Fate Stay Here
by Touhou Ranfuku
Summary: [Draft]. Shirou, Rin and Saber found themselves in a different world. They would fight for what they believed, but ultimately, what should they believe? Did they actually do what they thought to be the right things? There's an answer for them at the end of the road. On hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor High school DxD.**

 **Chapter 1**

Shirou sighed.

He knew it was dangerous, foolhardy and stupid even, yet he did not try to stop her.

It was probably because he knew even if he tried, she would kick him upside the head whilst preaching on how humanity should risk themselves to reach for new heights, regardless of the reality that a magus will always walk alongside death.

As someone undergoing his second year of 'apprenticeship' under her, he should have known better than anyone else the utterly disastrous results Rin's experiments could create. But it was too late to complain.

"Are you okay Rin?"

"I'm fine Saber, th-achoo cold is nothing to me."

And so they trudged along on this cold, snowy mountain, not a single one of them with the foresight to even pack a bloody sweater. Among the trio Saber was the least affected by the cold, she would be fine as long as her Prana supply was constant.

Shirou, with his body trained intensely over the years would be okay with as long as he stayed close to the fire, but it was different for Rin. While she was not someone who lived like a sheltered noble lady, pitching slightly-better-than normal human against the wild snowy mountain was regardless a bad idea, especially if the one in question did nothing to prepare for a hike in such conditions.

Admittedly Rin could have just made thick clothes but she had been conserving her Prana, in such an unfamiliar place, who knew what was just around the metaphorical corner?

But sooner or later this cold would beat them all, and Shirou knew he had to do something before it came to that .

There should be human settlement somewhere, and it would be his job to find it if he wanted their little team to survive. He didn't want the girls to do what he had to do.

Then he saw it.

In the middle of the yard covered in ash white snow not far from him a single man held a wooden sword, he wore a plain jacket, as white as the snow around him. But what attracted Shirou wasn't the man but his sword.

To call it merely 'swinging' a sword would be a mistake, the way the man moved, the way he brought down the sword in a graceful arc ment to sever head from neck… Even if it was simply practice, Shirou knew the man was a sword master without peer, he could see the memories inside the wooden sword of his, a new one, made an hour ago for the purpose of training.

It wasn't like Saber's style of swordplay, this man's swordsmanship was different, Shirou's eyes became glued onto the sword, unconsciously he activated his magic-

"Shirou!"

"Ouch ouch!"

"What are you doing? Spacing out again?"

"Ah sorry Rin, I'll go ask that man if he could help us."

Once again he had gotten lost in his … somewhat unhealthy passion for swords.

Shirou dropped his thought and went to the man.

"Excuse me?"

He had been learning English as his second language, Shirou knew that a hero must be able to converse with the people in order to understand what he needs to do in order to help them, therefore studying English had been one of his important tasks everyday.

The man stopped his training, he looked at Shirou for a second before answering in impeccable Japanese.

"Yes? What do you need?"

* * *

"Please make yourself at home."

"Please take care of us, Fay-san."

The man who introduced himself as Arthur welcomed them to his cottage, he did not emit any hostile intentions but a calm, noble aura. So Shirou had no problem following him, besides he could feel the wooden sword of his also didn't record any violent traits.

Rin was just glad to have a cup of hot coffee.

The sister of Arthur who called herself Fay was a nice girl, she too could talk to them using Japanese like her brother, Shirou wondered if the siblings had been living in Japan for a long time.

The living room they're staying was around the same size as Shirou's house, big enough for 8 to 10 people, unlike their familiar Japanese style with tatami and kotatsu there was a fireplace far to Shirou's left, he looked carefully again at the fireplace and saw that there was no wood under the warm fire.

"Hey Rin."

"Yeah yeah I know."

From his experience anyone who knew of the existence of magic should be observed carefully before placing any trust in them.

He felt a little nervous, up till now the siblings hadn't done anything terrible or threatened them with violent force, however Shirou had already prepared for the worst deep inside his heart he wished for none of that.

As far as he could see Arthur was an honored man, someone that would fight you like a gallant knight, a warrior who knew no dirty tricks, knew no fear. A knight who would charge into the lines of his enemies and not even falter for a second.

Perhaps he was over exaggerating, but the memories of the sword never lied, and Shirou too wanted to believe both Arthur and Fay had no malicious plans for their guests.

When Fay came out with cookies and more coffee Shirou introduced himself and his friends to her again.

"My name is Emiya Shirou, this is Tohsaka Rin and this is Saber."

"Yes, please help yourself with these cookies, they're newly baked."

'She's a good cook.' Shirou thought as he tasted the cookies, he did learn how to make them before when he was working at the restaurant so he knew it very well how should one bake a cookie, the amount of sugar, the time needed to bake it, the materials…

Shirou felt like jumping to the nearest kitchen to test his skills again, but with these circumstances he needed to prioritize.

"Emiya-san, it's late now and we only have one room spare, are you okay with it?"

"Thank you very much Fay-san, please don't mind us."

The room they were shown to wasn't large, the bed only enough for two people to sleep on but Shirou could manage on the floor just fine, that's what he had been doing for years.

After carefully locked the door Rin asked them to gather around.

"I know they're not bad but we don't know who they are, it's better if we move to a different location tomorrow."

"I understand but Rin, both Arthur-san and Fay-san aren't bad people."

"Then why do you repeat my words? We know next to nothing about them Shirou, from their appearance they might not be bad people but anything can happen, have you forgotten the Holy Grail war?"

The Holy Grail war… Rin must be talking about Illya, of course he remembered how terrifying the young girl was with her Servant. However Shirou believed the siblings were good people, or at least, he wanted to believe they were good people.

"Rin, Shirou, are you two okay?"

"We're fine Saber."

Saber had a thoughtful look on her face, she then continued.

"They're using ancient Welsh so I feared that you wouldn't understand their words, but then you two were using Japanese so I found it very strange. I was waiting for an opportunity to inform you about this matter but seeing how well you talked to them I decided to tell you later."

"Ancient Welsh?"

They had a shocked expression, but quickly calm down themselves.

"I heard their words in Japanese, what about you Rin?"

"Me too, they're using Japanese as if they're Japanese themselves… Indeed this is magic, maybe a rare type one."

Shirou's knowledge of magecraft is limited, but for Rin to say it's a rare type…

"What a convenient spell, if we're not being cautious to them I'd like to learn it from Fay-san. But ancient Welsh huh? Is that the language they used in your era Saber?"

"Yes, it's the language I'm familiar with the most."

For a moment the trio had nothing talk so they decided to sleep, they needed a good rest to clear their heads, tomorrow a lot of things would happen, and them knew it.

* * *

It was when they were eating breakfast with Fay that the doorbell rang.

"I'm back Fay."

"Welcome back onii-sama, oh Vali-sama?"

Fay's brother returned to their cottage with a silver hair man, he didn't strike him as a friendly man, Shirou felt that he was someone cold, who could care less about anything and everything.

"They're our guests Vali, from the left to right is Emiya Shirou, Tohsaka Rin and Saber."

Arthur then talked to them.

"Vali is an important friend of mine Emiya-san."

"Nice to meet you."

"Hm…"

The silver hair man-Vali, didn't say anything, he simply sat down to grab the bowl of rice which Le Fay prepared for her brother.

'What's this guy doing?'

Before Shirou could voice for Vali's rudeness Arthur told them not to mind, Vali didn't mean anything bad, it's just one of his habits. Arthur then went to the kitchen to get himself another bowl.

Shirou frowned a bit before continuing to eat with everyone, if Arthur said so he shouldn't worry about it. There are many kinds of people on this world and what this Vali guy did wasn't the worst of them.

Still Shirou hoped he wouldn't have to see this kind of rudeness too much.

"Who are you?"

Shirou had considered to decline tea so they could move out, but Vali was the one asked them first. Knowing him wasn't capable of giving a good answer Rin stepped it up.

"We're tourists, yesterday when we walking an accident happened and we lost from our group, thanks to Arthur-san and Fay-san's help we had a place to stay through the night. Thank you very much for your hospitality."

Shirou and Saber too bowed like Rin, but Vali wasn't satisfied with that, he asked Fay to bring tea and then told the girl to go do something else outside, really this guy acted like he owned the place or something.

"Tourists huh? I wonder what kind of tourists who could wander around in Yeti territory."

'What!?'

Yeti? As in the snow gorilla?

"Come on don't stand, have a seat, we have tea you know."

With a simple gesture Vali offered them like the master of the house, but Shirou knew this man was not someone he could let his guard down around, still they did what he said, but nobody among them were in the right mind to enjoy the tea Fay brewed for them.

"You see, this cottage is built inside the territory of Yeti to prevent others from sneaking in, I have personally negotiated with the Yeti to look out for us too, but to think you could come so close to our cottage without being detected…"

He finished the tea in his cup, his action fairly relaxed compared to Shirou and his friends, for a few seconds Shirou looked at Saber, he saw her hands ready, grasping, grasping for a sword not there. It was the signal to prepare, if Vali took any action against them, she would immediately rush to protect him and Rin. Shirou too prepared himself to unleash his strongest spell.

He knew Rin had a few aces up her sleeves, she _was_ the smartest of the three. Shirou could trust her to take care of herself. But he wished he wouldn't have to face the siblings, especially the nice young girl Fay.

"I told you guys to relax didn't I? So can you tell me who are you? Magicians? You two are human for sure but not the blond one."

As Shirou considered a route of escape Rin was the first to respond to Vali.

"You can call us magicians, and this woman next to me is my familiar, a great one at that and you can't find this type of high-class familiar anywhere. So my turn? What about you? Who are you?"

'R-Rin…!'

Once again she went ahead like that, but it couldn't be helped, Rin's answer had taken effect quickly as Vali replied to her in a mild voice, unlike his somewhat provoked attitude before.

"I suppose we're mercenary in your eyes, I'm the leader of my team, Arthur is my right hand and a swordsman, Fay is our magician, there are two more members but they're not here."

He nonchalantly grabbed a donut off the table.

"I'm not gonna ask you how did you come here, but our enemies have found out this cottage and are planning to ambush us. Say, you two are Japanese right? We can send you to Japan if you want."

Why this man offering them was what running through his head, but if what he said is true about him being a mercenary then he must see them as a burden, or at worst, a spy. Shirou wondered if Arthur thought the same as Vali.

"How do you plan to send us to Japan?"

"If you want it quick we can use our secret teleportation point, or if you want to use the mundane service we can prepare airplane tickets for you."

What a leisurely guy-

"Eh!? Teleportation!?"

As in moving from one place to another in a short time? Shirou swore he could hear Rin murmuring about 'impossible' right next to him. He too had many questions about Vali, who is he? How did he learn teleportation magic? Wasn't that considered True Magic?

"Yeah, and don't worry Fay is an expert, her skills have almost reached the pinnacle of modern magic so I'm sure your teleportation will not be interrupted by anything. Anyway could you pick one already?"

"T-Teleportation!"

"Hey Rin!"

"You shut up Shirou! This is an one-in-million chance for me! Think about it, think about what you can do with teleportation!"

Teleportation, with teleportation Shirou could move to the place where people needed help in the shortest time! Isn't this the penultimate skill of heroes when they needed to suddenly appear in the nick of time to save the day? He wanted that! The spell would help him a lot in his journey to become a superhero.

"Listen I don't care about what you're discussing, if you choose teleportation then Fay will prepare it for you."

"...That is too convenient don't you think?"

"I could careless about that, the faster you're out of here the better we can cover up our track. It's bad if I let random people die when our enemies assault my team. So, good for both of us, you guys got a free trip while we keep up our reputation."

They were led by Arthur to the basement, the gentleman had apologized them for their boss' demand on the way, he promised them that he would ensure no harm to them in case their enemies attacked. When they arrived Fay was standing in the middle of a light circle beneath her.

"So this is the ritual to cast teleportation…"

Rin looked at the ground carefully, she wanted to remembered every single characters of it, Shirou too wanted to do it but with for a moment he thought it's better if he asked Rin to teach him later.

"I have finished the preparation, now please step into it. I will activate it right now."

Then the room shook, rocked by an explosion above them.

Arthur rushed back upstairs, Shirou wanted to help but Rin pulled his left arm while Saber held his right arm. With a sigh of defeat Shirou obediently stepped into the circle together with his friends.

"Fay-san, this is teleportation magic?"

"Yes, a custom one, do you want to learn it?"

"You will teach me?"

"Hm no, I'm afraid I have to go help onii-sama and Vali-sama, but I have my note here."

The young girl then gave Rin a notebook pulled from the deep expanses of her stereotypically big hat, she really did look like a stage magician.

"It'll teleport you to a safe place, there's food supply as well as other living expenses, please feel free to use them."

And, those were her last words before the trio were yanked through space and time. It was a shame, Shirou thought, that they did not even get the chance to thank her for taking them in.

XXX

"Today we will learn how to make ice cream."

"Great! With this I'm sure any girl would fall for me in a matter of time!"

Shirou looked at his energetic apprentice before repeating his daily routine.

'3 months have passed huh?'

He had learned much in those months, first this was not their world, the magic system they used, vastly different from anything Rin knew. They were so... easy to use that even someone with a bad alignment towards magic like Shirou could cast without much trouble. He also checked the map and even the internet for the name "Fuyuki" but there was nothing, meaning his hometown didn't exist in this world. With no other choice they decided to stay in the town where Fay teleported them to.

Rin on the other hand wasn't that sad, after the first week she had gone to the owner of this town-Kuou Town, to ask for permission to research magic. She got a good one at that when the owner asked her to analyze runes, dispel curse or recover artifacts. Their new high class apartment is also come from those contracts Rin signed with the owner.

Shirou heard from his love that the owner is a devil, but they acted nothing like the devils they knew, if anything they were more like 'Aliens with magical superpowers who have lived on Earth for far too long.' They also helped the people in Kuou town, running around to do their requests so Shirou could hardly place them as something wicked. However Rin also said that the devil society is also like human, there's good ones and bad ones so he better looked out whenever dealing with ones.

"Next you check the sugar like this Hyoudou-san."

This young guy who learning the "Art of Cooking" was Hyoudou Issei, a weird guy to be honest. Shirou met him back at the supermarket when he was wondering which carrots should he choose. Apparently he wanted to have a harem so he decided to become a cool guy first ie knowing how to cook, lift and getting high scores in school.

So Shirou did his usual and taught the guy about a thing or two, then he came to ask him if he could teach him how to cook great dishes Shirou couldn't find a reason to decline.

"Oh can I have a break tomorrow? I have a date with my girlfriend!"

Then Hyoudou showed Shirou the picture of Amano Yuuma, a cute girl in his mobile cellphone. At first Shirou thought this is a joke made by a group of girls since he found it quite hard to believe Hyoudou could get a girlfriend that fast, but he couldn't say anything to Hyoudou after seeing him like that.

'He must be looking forward to that date much, I hope nothing bad happens to him tomorrow.'

Dinner came and Hyoudou said goodbye to Shirou. When he brought out tonight dishes Rin told everyone to be careful, according to the report of the devil a small group of Fallen Angel had come to the town, since the relationship between the two species isn't good it's better to avoid contacting them.

She also gave them the pictures of the Fallen Angel which Shirou had a goosebump inside him.

'Hyoudou's girlfriend is one of them? I have a bad feeling about this.'

"Shirou? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Saber. Now everyone please dig in."

That night Shirou couldn't sleep well, he knew Hyoudou Issei was a pervert who had like lots of porn magazines in his room (the guy also asked him if he wanted to borrow them) but overall he's not that bad.

Deep inside his heart Shirou apologized for what he's going to do the next day.

* * *

 **AN: So yeah I got an advice from a friend saying when one meets writer's block he should let out any ideas jumping in his head, and this is the result.**

 **I know this might sound like a joke but please don't expect this story to be good since I'm just taking it like a draft or stuffs I write for fun, anyway thank you _joshiewoshie_ for helping me with my horrible grammar.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor High school DxD.**

 **Chapter 2**

"I'm going out for a walk."

Checking his clothes again Shirou walked out of his apartment. Rin was still sleeping after studying magic last night again, meanwhile Saber was playing a new game on a PS3. Personally Shirou thought it was good for the King of Knights to be able to enjoy the life of a normal girl, she had lost so much in her past… Even if it was just a moment he hoped she could find joy with him and Rin.

"Now onto the next part…"

Shirou knew Hyoudou's house and it's just 8 in the morning, he should be able to track the guy before he reached his destination. Shirou felt like a creepy stalker but he couldn't shake off the feeling that something would happen today.

'It can't be helped.'

If Hyoudou found out he would apologize and that is definitely better than if something bad happened to him.

It didn't take him an hour to see Hyoudou walking with his girlfriend Amano. It was a normal date, Hyoudou had prepared a special outfit for this day and it only made Shirou felt worse for stalking them. The couple went around chatting, then when Hyoudou went to buy chips a redhead came to Amano.

She was different from the rest, a foreign beauty among the native Japanese, but Shirou also knew she wasn't human.

'That's Rias Gremory the devil who provides jobs for Rin!'

Why was she here? Wait did she know Hyoudou having a date with the Fallen Angel Amano today?

Shirou quickly threw a device for eavesdropping toward the ground beneath Gremory and Amano. From Rin he had learned that magic allows one to talk with another privately but nobody can hear them is very common in this world, therefore Rin had made devices to counter this spell, once again he apologized to Gremory for doing this in his heart.

"... you here? You know that this is my territory right?"

"Yes, but you don't the power here, we're standing on a neutral ground Heiress of Gremory."

"Why do you approach him?"

"He's one of your clients right?"

"Don't try to divert the topic."

"He wants a harem and personally I like that, he also has no trouble announcing that to any girls he meets, you can say that he's idiot but brave at the same time. I find his dream amusing, me for myself wouldn't mind hanging out with him and other girls too, you know we Fallen Angel don't limit ourselves in enjoying the pleasure of flesh."

"So you're saying you're okay with his harem dream?"

"Yes why not? Can't a Fallen find a man to marry? Or do you, a _Devil_ want to stick her nose in? Preventing me from finding my love?"

"Tch-!"

Shirou's not sure if he understood this conversation entirely, but he knew Gremory was trying help Hyoudou in one way or another.

"Oh Rias-senpai? You're here too?"

"Good morning to you Ise."

"I'd like you introduce you to Amano Yuuma, she's my girlfriend Rias-senpai."

"I see… Good for you Ise, I wish you a good day."

Then she walked away from them, but it was not his concern so Shirou continued to stalk the couple.

It was up to afternoon and the date almost came to the end, Shirou let out a sigh of relief. Amano didn't do anything bad to Hyoudou and they were having a good time together. If what she said is true then perhaps he should go home.

"It was a good date Issei-kun."

Hm… Maybe he could do that after seeing Hyoudou returned to his home safety.

"Yeah, I'm glad that you enjoy it Yuuma-chan."

She then let out a pair of black wings, right in front of the fountain of the park, the orange ray of sunlight rested on her figure.

"Yuuma-chan!?"

"As you can see I'm a Fallen Angel Issei-kun… Do you fear me?"

"Eh? No! How could I fear someone as cute as you Yuuma-chan?"

"Then good, you too Issei-kun, is a special person."

"Me?"

"Yes, you have a Sacred Gear Issei-kun, you're blessed with power."

"Is that so?"

Sacred Gear? Artifact that put into human by God? Shirou recalled what Rin taught him nights ago.

"You can summon it by focusing your desire."

"I see… Let's see if I can do it."

His left arm then painted by a red light, moment later a red gauntlet appeared on it.

The rest of the day was just Yuuma promising to teach him how to use his superpowers. It wasn't until 6 in the evening that Shirou came home, happily that nothing bad happened to Hyoudou. He could see the joyfulness on the guy when he found out he had a Sacred Gear.

"You're late Shirou, go cook something."

"But today is your turn."

"I'm still tired so you go do it, I'll make it up tomorrow."

"Yes yes Rin-sama."

"Let me help you Shirou."

"Thank you Saber."

And it was a tired but nice day to Emiya Shirou.

* * *

After the day he introduced Yuuma to Rias the redhead just called him over more and more, he knew this is a good chance for him to be with a beauty like her but it could be a problem sometimes when he needed to review his homework for the next class.

Though no way he's gonna decline such a beauty like Rias, especially with her breasts, she had promised him to go to a pool together with the rest of the Occult Research Club if he could beat her in chess, and that is his goal. But then he knew the student council's president Sitri Sona is also a chess master and Rias played with her everyday.

Closed his eyes for a moment Issei recalled what she said today, she warned him about his girlfriend Amano Yuuma but honestly he couldn't see what's wrong with it. He knew the Devil and Fallen Angel was in some sort of cold war but he hoped nothing bad would happen between Rias and Yuuma, for once he could never choose to side with another if they fought each other.

Good news is that he had managed to talk with the dragon inside his Sacred Gear-Ddraig the Welsh Dragon, the great one had taught him the basic abilities of his Sacred Gear. Yuuma was keeping her promise and he had become better and better at using his Boosted Gear.

"Oh I should go to Emiya's place."

Emiya Shirou-a nice guy he met at the supermarket when he was trying to determine which ones should he buy, later he had asked the redhead to teach him how to cook because true man knows how to make himself and his love food!

There was a blond who he occasionally met at Emiya's apartment, she's attractive, well he's not denying she was cute but to him she had a mysterious charm. It's not something he could explain but he knew quite well she's someone precious to Emiya, and good man does not stick his nose in other man's relationship. If Issei recalled correctly there was another girl staying at Emiya's too, but he hadn't met her yet.

On his way he saw a cute nun who seemed to be losing, so he put his magic into use-the [Language] spell. Admittedly he was bad at magic but he had done his best to get this right, if he wants a harem of beauties and can't talk to them it'd be a disaster right? He learned this from another idol of his school-Himejima Akeno, the right hand of Rias Gremory.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah someone knows Italian, excuse me but can you lead me to the local church please, I have tried to ask others but my Japanese is not that good."

"The only church I know is the abandoned one, are you okay with that?"

"Yes, please take me to it."

"Alright, hey let me carry your luggage."

That's what a cool man would do to any girls, or at least, that was what he learned from Aika the perverted girl, when he got into Kuou she was the one to sell him a book of "How to get close to girls" and he had been learning from it seriously, and it worked! Not only he got a girlfriend but beauties like Rias talked with him too so it's a win-win situation, mostly if that Aika didn't charge him for a free eroge every month. He's still in her debt actually because she always demanded high quality otome game.

Though he did learn that peeping or badmouthing is bad habit and nobody likes it, so those stuffs in his pornography magazine were wrong all the time eh? At least he's not a peeper and would never become one.

"Are you hurt? Here let me help you."

The nun came to help an injured kid, when his mother came instead of saying thank you she just trying to leave as fast as she could, only the boy said thank you to the blond nun.

"That was magic?"

"It was a Sacred Gear eh-"

"Hyoudou Issei, my name that is."

"I'm Asia Argento, sorry that I forgot to introduce myself."

"It's okay but, are you fine with that? You helped the kid yet her mother treated you like some kind of freak."

"It's okay, I… The strangers always treat me like that."

"I see, then why help them? I mean that was a small wound. If you didn't show your power then they would have treated you normally."

"But I don't want to see them get hurt Hyoudou-san, I, even if this world is filled with people like that, even if they are not friendly… I still believe in the good ones, I don't want to become cold just because there's no good people, I don't want to become them Hyoudou-san. If everyone treats others like that what will become of our world?"

Even if she was treated like a freak, an outcast, a pariah she still wanted to help others?

"And Hyoudou-san here is a good person! Also I have been blessed with this Sacred Gear-Twilight Healing, I don't want to waste its power because it hurts me in return Hyoudou-san."

"I see."

The rest of the road to the abandoned church Issei could find no word to talk to Argento, a question had occupied his mind when she finished her word.

'Can I continue stay on my path if they treat me differently?'

He imagined.

What if, he were to be abandoned by everyone he ever knew and loved just because he was different from them? What if, with his power, his abilities, he tried to help everyone around him? Performing feats beyond the ken of mere men to help them? And what if… it was for that very reason, that they would reject him?

And now he imagined once more, what if he did have this power, but chose not to help others? And as such, was treated no differently from the rest of the flock? Complaining about how wicked the world was, that he should have to 'blend in' just to survive?

What should he do?

He honestly had no idea, but he would do his best to keep it, to grow strong in his power, to become a good person like Argento, if a girl like her could do it then why couldn't he?

"Here we are, the abandoned church."

It's also the place where Yuuma taught him how to use his Sacred Gear, however she's not here today so he had no idea what Argento wanted to do with this church, maybe because she's a nun the church is her home? He better called Yuuma if she knew Argento if she's a fallen nun.

'No wait, why should someone like Argento-san become a fallen?'

He looked at her again, indeed her appearance said she was a holy maiden who knew nothing but helping everyone within her grasp, but then what she told him earlier reminded him that she must have faced hardship in the past.

He should probably ask her about it later when he had a chance.

A man in suit with fedora hat came out minutes later as he greeted Argento.

"Thank you for leading her here, we'll take care of her from now on."

With a last wave Issei said goodbye to Argento before dashing to his cooking class.

* * *

 **AN: Okay so you might see that the update is a little fast, yeah it is at the first few chapters, the next chapters wouldn't be that fast so please don't expect much from me. Seriously I'm having a writer's block and disappointment from DxD Born.**

 **YuukiAsuna-chan: It wouldn't make sense if they stick with Vali and his team, for once Shirou wouldn't like to see Vali being neutral to almost everything. If you ask why it must be Issei then it's the same question why "Shirou should be the one has UBW and not say Shinji or some other dude that you have no interesting in reading because they look too much like an OC or SI."**

 **I write this fic because I want to see if I can make interaction between Shirou and the main cast of DxD, though I can see I'm straying from what I want. Obviously you can always write what you want, then you have to make a bunch of OCs because we lack info on who Vali met before canon, actually it's in the reboot Slash/Dog but it's Japanese so yeah.**

 **Rydan Fall: About Excalibur well I do have plans, just wait for it, then again I might make you disappoint because I don't have much motivation to finish this with a bang.**

 **AVP: Thank you for pointing out, though I as the author see this as a "Meh" story, I'm lacking a burning passion to write this and just want to rush it, in the end my object is to see if I can complete a crossover and not abandoning it.**

 **Thanks everyone for reading this, and once again thank you _joshiewoshie_ for helping me.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay night nor High school DxD.**

 **Chapter 3**

Today he came to the abandoned church to learn how to use his Sacred Gear, for a moment he considered asking Rias if the Devils had a method or two about training, though in the end, he thought better for this to keep as his trump card.

To him the Occult Research club was not a nest of 'evil' like what their species suggested. If he had to described them in his own words he would use "Hot superhuman chicks." He had been trying to impress everyone (except Kiba because that guy was handsome and didn't need more attention). Through his lessons with Emiya he could make better snacks to give Koneko, the petite girl barely gave him a praise, but she enjoyed those... or he could just be imagining that she was enjoying it in his head.

Akeno was a high-class lady, one he would have expected to look perfect in a kimono and serving tea, well not that he had seen her in one but he knew one day he would. He was learning magic with her through a contract. All just basic spells due to his low mana capacity.

Rias Gremory was a beauty, especially her crimson hair. He would never get bored gazing upon those luxurious, crimson locks of her's. It was like a pretty charm to him-a devil attractiveness factor. Issei had been always attracted by the red color so he hardly could contain his gaze for Rias whenever she's nearby. Most of the time he spent with her was playing chess and video games, he didn't want to say it out-loud but she was a nerd much unlike his first impression of someone who seemed far too high to look up for.

Arriving at the church Yuuma was already there waiting for him, giving him a small smile.

"Welcome Issei-kun, would you mind some coffee? I just got them today."

"Really? I'm happy to try it."

Hm, delicious. Not too bitter, he wasn't a fan of coffee but this was really good. Oh if Yuuma liked coffee he probably should ask Emiya how to brew it, that guy must have won cooking award somewhere with those super skills he demonstrated.

"Have you finished?"

"Yeah it's really good! Thank you Yuuma-chan."

"Let us process with the training then."

Walking to the courtyard behind the church he summoned his Boosted Gear-one of the thirteen Longinus. It had a form of a red gauntlet with green gems and yellow spikes. Ddraig the entity living inside told him this was its initiative form and he needed to use it more to unlock advanced form. So far Issei could use two main abilities of Boosted Gear: [Boost] and [Transfer].

"Let's see how long can you hold up this time."

Yuuma clicked a stopwatch.

[Boost], the first and foremost ability of Boosted Gear is to double the user's stats after 10 seconds. [Boost] can be stacked up till the current body's limit or the user can choose to use it as he wants.

[Explosion!]

Issei felt a surge of power rose inside him, he had become much stronger, to test it he concentrated his strength and punched the ruined stone wall in front of him, the wall crumbled into base brick.

[Reset]

"150 seconds this time Issei-kun, you have improved!"

However there's a price he had to pay for this ridiculous short-time powerup, [Boost] ran on his stamina and would even damage his body if he overdid it. In other word it's similar to compressing the entire force you use up in running 10 km constantly in 10 seconds and put that on your body.

"Oh hey thanks, I'm spent."

He sat down breathing hard, this wasn't the first so he could get used to it.

"Okay but I think you can do it again don't you? Try to break your limit Issei-kun."

With Yuuma's cute voice to encourage him Issei did his best to stand up. He activated his Boosted Gear again and this time, he would go farther.

'I can do it I can do it…!'

[Explosion!]

Another surge of power, this one was even bigger than the last one.

"180 seconds Issei-kun!"

"Y-Yeah!"

He struggled to reply to Yuuma, perhaps he had pushed it too far but it was worth, he would do anything to see her smile.

!

Issei's limbs did not respond as he crumpled, with a *thud* he fell, like a bug got sprayed by bug-killer toxic.

"Issei-kun?"

Yuuma called his name innocently.

It hurt. My drool was dripping out uncontrollably.

"How do you feel Issei-kun?"

It wasn't a voice of a girlfriend caring about her boyfriend, definitely not, or his brain imagining things?

I'm hurt Yuuma-chan. My nose is bleeding like a broken faucet. And my ears, and my eyes, they were suffering the same thing as my nose.

"Dragons are magnificent beasts aren't they Issei-kun? Born from a mass of power, they become arrogant because of the very power they possess."

Cold sweat rolled on his face, his back arched. He felt hot yet cold, his veins were screaming, they wanted to burst out and his blood was turning into sickly dark green color.

Why Yuuma-chan? Why aren't you helping me to stop the pain?

"Among the dragons there were two legendary beings, they are not gods but were considered to be on par with gods. One red and one white."

Yuuma continued her monologue nonchalantly, as if he wasn't here, as if he wasn't in a world of pain.

The pain broke his throat, hammered through his voice. Issei tried his best but nothing came out of his mouth. The pain burned his tongue like a cursed flame.

He couldn't even ask her what happening.

"Then they fought each other, not caring about anything in their way."

His vision became hazy, his ears were hearing drum, he could no longer feel his limbs. The hundred questions running through his head yet none were answered.

Yuuma's face turned into a furious one, like a judge she screamed to the shaking Issei on the ground.

"I had always loved God! Yet because of you! Your stupid, insolent fights had taken him away! Because of you God has been put into a coma! No longer can he bestow miracles on this world, no longer can his mighty voice grace the hearts of his angels because of your stupid, oversize lizard's fight!"

She trampled on his face, yet he could feel nothing. Nothing but the pain he was already in..

"Years I waited and waited, I became a Fallen so I can pursue my objective. And now I have found you, today I shall have my vengeance! Today I shall extract your Boosted Gear out of your miserable body!"

Her cold face looked at him again, then with a full of murderous intent she said.

"I can't kill the other one now, but I can kill you for sure, reincarnation of Ddraig the Welsh Dragon."

"Hyoudou-san!"

Who?

"Asia…! I told you to not come here!"

"Hyoudou-san, what's happening to you!?"

Where am I?

"Out of my way! Hyoudou-san! Hyoudou-san what's wrong with you!?"

There was no pain, no pain anymore.

"Get a hold of yourself Hyoudou-san, I'll get you to safety!"

Why? Why would you do that to me?

"What are you doing human!? He is my prey! He will pay for what he did!"

Oh there's light covering me? That's cool.

…

…

I should have asked Rias if Heaven allowed harem-

* * *

He felt helpless, deep in his mind he knew this wasn't the first time but still.

"Don't worry Shirou, I have contacted the Gremory, they would be here soon."

Rin was fast as always, she's definitely not going to let a person die in front of her, yes, she's not a cold-blood magus.

He recalled that it was just like any other day, with him working at a family restaurant. When he had finished however, he came across a nun carrying many bags of groceries.

Wanting to help anyone that he is, Shirou came to help her, casting a language spell to better communicate with her native Italian.

Her name was Asia Argento, a nun came here just a week ago. The people living with her were nice so she decided to use her pocket money to buy something good for them as a gratitude.

However when Shirou walked her to the abandoned church he immediately knew she belonged to the Fallen Angel faction, but he had no intention of stop helping her carrying those bags, besides he could always say avoid them as long as he didn't cross the line.

Argento wanted to invite him for tea but the … weird white hair guy guarding at the gate stopped Shirou from stepping any further. Since Argento had come back to her home Shirou considering leaving, but then he heard a scream from inside the building. His instinct kicked up and he dashed toward Argento's voice, only to see Hyoudou laying on the ground like a bleeding piece of rotten meat and his girlfriend stepped on his head.

With a quick moment he pulled up Hyoudou and used the teleportation paper to escape from the church, saving people is the most important thing to Emiya Shirou, he could hear the explanation later and if he was the wrong one he would apologize to them.

Shirou turned his head to watch over Hyoudou again.

"Rin, his blood is reverting into dark green again!"

"How!? What kind of dragon-slayer poison did that psychopath girlfriend feeded him!?"

Rin chanted up another magic circle to keep the poison from affecting Hyoudou's body. To ensure no surprise attack Saber was told to guard the building, meanwhile Shirou stayed in the room guarding against anything that could break past or circumvent the Servant. Even though Rin had prepared anti-teleportation barrier it'd be useless if they just appeared on the next room and forcefully attacked through the wall.

Casting anti-teleportation on the entire building would cost too much Prana, Rin had assured Shirou that the teleportation paper she made for him couldn't be tracked but better safe than sorry.

"The Gremory has come Shirou."

Due to the fact that none of them were expert on curing poison, especially an uncommon dragon-slayer poison like this, the obviously choice was to make the call with the ones holding the right tools in their hands.

Coming through the door was the redhead beauty he had met along with a black hair Japanese girl. Together they rushed to Hyoudou's side.

"I have never seen this type of poison before Rias."

The devil reached down to Hyoudou, she then activated magic circle to check on his body. A few minutes passed she shook her head.

"The analyze told me that the poison has hydra's blood in it, it's a fatal one. I'm surprised that he's still alive at this point, you must have cast a strong spell on him Rin."

"Gremory-san, is there any other way we can help him?"

Shirou didn't want to see this, he couldn't allow this life to be taken in front of his eyes.

The devil frowned.

"I need to move him to the devil's hospital, they have a way to clean the poison out of him. However in his weakened state the atmosphere of the Underworld might have unexpected effects on him, I… I don't know if I should risk that."

'So there's no hope-wait, what about asking the doctor to come here?'

But before Shirou could speak his thought Rin let out a surprise voice.

"Fay-san? Saber are you sure it's her? She wants to what? Okay let her in."

Seconds later a young girl walked into the room, she was the one who helped the trio when they were at that snow mountain, and she was just as polite as the first day they met her.

"Vali-sama wanted to meet Hyoudou-san, he heard that his rival was poisoned so he sends me here to help."

Fay then sat down next to Hyoudou and made him eat a pill. His face quickly became healthier after that, the slightly dark green blood running through his veins became normal again.

"Now he just needs a bit of rest to recover, but to flush out the poison he must not use his dragon powers in 2 weeks."

Shirou let out a sigh of relief, this might be out of his expectation but Hyoudou was saved, he couldn't be happier with that. He should come to thank Vali later for that.

Everyone in the room thanked Fay for her kindness but the young girl flushed and said it was nothing, besides it was Vali who gave her the pill in the first place.

Gremory and her friend then said goodbye to them even though Rin wanted her to stay back to discuss about a magician contract. Both of them had doubt about Vali knowing this matter but they let it slide for now, there would be another time to deal with that.

It wasn't until 10 PM that Hyoudou woke up, the guy had a surprise look on his face first, then he looked down. In his weary eyes Shirou saw the pain of being betrayed, but also something else, some secret that he wanted to keep to himself so Shirou had no interest in it. He told Hyoudou to stay here to rest, they could have a talk later tomorrow but Hyoudou declined that with a tired voice.

"I'm grateful to you Emiya-san, but I can't trouble you anymore, speaking of which I got a test tomorrow and I don't want to screw it up."

With no other option Shirou proposed to walk him home which Hyoudou said thank you for everything he did.

On their way to Hyoudou's house, under the moonlight there was a man waiting for him. Shirou was the first to begin the short conversation.

"Thank you for helping, Vali-san."

It was none other than the one who sent Shirou to this town, even though he's somewhat rude Shirou couldn't help but feel thankful to this man for rushing to save Hyoudou on time. But what happened next was what he never expected.

"H...Hakuryuukou."

"So? You have awaken Sekiryuutei."

Hyoudou had a stern face when he talked to Vali which was strange because Shirou had told him Vali was the one giving him the pill to save his life. But there was no grateful word, there's only a tone full of doubt in Hyoudou's words.

"Why?"

A toneless voice replied to the one word question.

"You will see it, it's just the matter of time Red one."

The silver hair man then turned his back on them.

"1 month later."

"Is that all you want to talk to me White one?"

"This, is destiny. You cannot escape it."

Vali continued to walk into the shadow beyond them. Like the cold wind in the night he came and went.

For once this didn't make any sense to Shirou, why did they talk like that? No actually Vali didn't help Hyoudou out of good will?

"Hyoudou-san, are you okay?"

"Thanks for your concern Emiya-san, but this is something I have to do."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think I can walk on my own here Emiya-san, can you… can you leave me alone for a moment please?"

Still Emiya helped the depressing Hyoudou until they came to his home. They didn't talk anything more after that.

However Shirou knew there's a secret between those two, Hyoudou and Vali.

Perhaps he should ask Hyoudou again once he's covered, he recalled some important words earlier.

Sekiryuutei. Hakuryuukou. Rival.

Rin should know about this, if he had to ask anyone for magic she's the best one.

* * *

 **AN: So yeah fast pace isn't it? Well it's a draft after all.**

 **the DragonBard: It's not about physical but mental, as you can see Asia tried to heal the kid yet his mother freaked out because of that. Though I might make it unclear to you.**

 **The next chapter will be a bit longer than usual so I need more time to revise it.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor High school DxD.**

 **Chapter 4**

Issei watched the couples of birds on the trees.

They flew with each other, hopping from branch to branch, their chirping brightens the whispers of mother nature, adding love to color the breaths of spring.

An artist would call it a song of love, but to Issei it was just noise.

He wanted nothing to do with love… At least for now.

Kicking those thoughts aside in his messed up mind he inhaled the cool breeze and tried to relax just so he could sort out exactly what had happened to him.

After that fateful day Rias had exerted her influence to ensure his recovery. That meant two things; first he had more free time to rest and relax so that the poison could pass through his system, second he was free to use the room of the old school building to rest anytime he wanted.

She also took great pains to reassure him that neither she nor her Peerage had any intention of changing their relationship with him even if he was the Sekiryuutei. However, even then there was the subtle hint of fear in their dealings with him… no matter how they would deny it. _As if the stains of blood millennia old could be washed away so easily._

Or he could just be paranoid, no one could blame him for that.

Rias' contact with the Demon Lords wasn't going well either, though they had signed a temporary truce with the Fallen Angel in this area. As long as each side used no violence the Devils would not remove the church from existence, in return Vali the Hakuryuukou would not make his move against the local Devils namely Rias, Sona and their Peerages.

As for his ex-girlfriend Yuuma she wouldn't dare to ambush him since a high-rank member of the Grigory-Vali was there to keep an eye on her. He had no clue what happened to her afterward but he's sure the consequence wouldn't be small.

Still Issei wanted to throw away the memories with Yuuma.

'To think someone who accepted me, dated me, promised to bring out my potential… Only for revenge.'

He chuckled. Who was he kidding? Love never came easy. On top of that he was the Sekiryuutei, a being that struck fear into people just by his title.

"Love can overcome the hatred eh? What a joke, she never loved me in the first place."

...If he was just a normal guy without any Sacred Gear, would she actually come to love him?

'Probably not, she has a revenge to chase after.'

Checking the clock of the park Issei stood up, he hadn't been attending Emiya's cooking class for a week, in fact he didn't know what he wanted to do on these days. A proper 'Thank you' to the chief and his friends is necessary, perhaps he should get it done soon.

"H-Hyoudou-san?"

He turned his head toward the mildly surprised voice, it belonged to the nun he met before-Asia Argento. Together with her was a man in suit and a fedora who took Argento in that day, from their appearance looks like they were going out for shopping.

The middle-age Fallen Angel bowed to Issei with a sincere voice.

"My apologies for Raynare's deeds that day Sekiryuutei, our orders were to observe you, not to harm you in anyway."

"Raynare? Is that her real name?" Issei really wanted to slap himself for not realizing it sooner.

"Yes. Hm, looks like Asia wants to have some words with you."

He then went to sit on another bench, far from Issei and Argento's one but close enough to keep a look on their healer.

"Please have a seat Argento-san, I'm not in a hurry."

The timid nun did as he said, her shopping bags were settled to her left.

For a full 10 minutes neither of them talked anything, before it became more and more awkward Issei opened his mouth first.

"How have you been lately Argento-san? Oh and you can call me Issei."

"T-Then please call me Asia too. I'm fine Issei-san, Raynare-sama, she… she was walking on the wrong path, but please don't hate her. About your body, do you feel hurt anymore?"

"Oh that? I'm fine, I just need more rest to be able to use my Sacred Gear again… about Raynare… She has the right reason to hate me Asia-san. Especially if the one she loved got hurt because of me, or the entity I'm hosting."

"Hate can only breed more hate, and too much hatred will lead to the mutual destruction. Once the hatred is gone there will be nothing left for you to love Issei-san."

With a sad face Asia finished her line.

"I don't want to see Raynare-sama like that, when I came there my stuffs got taken away by other members of the Fallen, you know, living expenses and clothes but she was the one who put that down. Did you know that deep down in her heart Raynare was a good faithful follower? She had been taking care of the church with all her might, especially the status of God."

"Is that so?"

That was all he could reply. Asia didn't seem to know about the reason why Raynare would go that far to kill him. Then again could he really blame Raynare? If someone who killed his beloved could he contain his hatred to not blindly chase after a revenge?

BUT. But.

She poisoned him. A lethal one, if his luck ran out he would have been dead at the church.

'Has the hatred of Ddraig always been this intense? Now I feel like I'm also paying another price for this hold this uber power is to earn the hatred of those who were hurt by Sekiryuutei.'

That was something he learned from… Somewhere, he knew he had learned about it but he couldn't recall where was it. Was that inside one of his video games?

"Oh right Asia-san, I didn't have a chance to ask you but why did you become a Fallen? I thought with that Sacred Gear they would treat you like a savior or a miracle worker?"

She had a jump, she definitely did that.

Issei waited for a moment, if she didn't want to talk about her past he's better not pushing it.

"Anyway don't be upset by it. You're here right? You should make new friends, new memories, a new life is waiting for you Asia-san. Don't let the past shackle you."

What a cheesy one-liner.

"Issei-san! Someone… Someone once told me life is a mirror that reflects everything you did back on you. Therefore… Therefore I don't want to hate anyone, because I don't want to be hated… I-I just-"

Issei stopped the panic girl with a gesture, he thought it should be better if she had more time to prepare to tell him about her past. And he could always listen to her anytime.

"Why don't we talk about this matter at other time Asia-san? Perhaps one day when I'm completely healed I'd visit you at the church. As for now I think I should go home to prepare for tomorrow's classes."

"Oh ah… Please forgive me for my manners. Issei-san is going to school huh? I wonder what would it be like to attend a high school..."

She sounded a little distressed when it's on schooling topic.

"Don't worry, I'm pretty sure you will be able to go to school Asia-san."

"Really?"

"Yeah, well that's just what my feelings are telling me."

Others could complain about extensive homework or walking to a boring place known as school everyday, but they were forgetting all the cool things you could only do in school. So a nice girl like Asia definitely should go to school to enjoy what's being a student.

Then the middle-age Fallen Angel came to him and Asia, he was on guard, his posture was hard and he's like someone preparing to fight. Seconds later another man came in view, he had white hair and a cross on his clothes, but Issei knew he couldn't let be at ease. The leaking killing intent from him was not something to laugh at.

[It's the Fallen exorcist partner.]

The middle-age Fallen Angel moved to block the white hair guy before he could come closer.

"For what reason have you come here Freed? I don't recall Vali-sama had any order for you besides staying in your room."

"Oh come on Dohnaseek! I'm just here for a liiiiiittle fuuuuuuun!"

A light spear appeared in the middle-age man's hands, at the same time Freed brought out a sword of light that looks like a rip-off from Star War.

"Sekiryuutei can I entrust our healer to you? This maniac just activated an anti long range communication barrier."

"Leave it to me!"

Dohnaseek threw the light spear to Freed, but it was a miss, the Fallen exorcist sidestepped it and proceeded to stab with his sword.

"What's the matter old man!? Have you forgotten that the previous Sekiryuutei had burned down the village where your wife and kids lived in his rampage? Don't you just waaaaaaaaaaaaant to dump him into a volcano for what he did to your peaceful little family?"

"Shut your trap!"

They began an exchange of light swords, the area around them filled with some new holes made by those missed attacks.

At first one would think Dohnaseek having the advantage but the way Freed moved was so bizarre the middle-age Fallen Angel had to put more effort to keep up.

"You know what old man, why don't you just blame it all on that brat? You can torture him for killing your family! It's so easy to let your hatred out on something that exists before your eyes Dohnaseek."

The foul mouth exorcist pulled out a gun to engage in ranged combat with the now floating Dohnaseek, spear to spear raining down on his opponent.

"Look at him! Look at the one who hosted the soul of the disgusting serpent! He's so weak, so helpless! I know your feeling old man, I know how frustrated when you received the order to observe that brat, yet you can't stick a rod through his holes and light him on fire like BBQ! Ekekekekekekek!"

"Why you're still there you idiot!? Grab Asia and run away so I can focus on cutting this insane shit-eating bastard!"

The middle-age Fallen Angel's words reminded him of his object, with a quick moment he led Asia out of the park. What Freed said could be dealt later.

"Wow! The cold blood Dohnaseek just let his family's murderer got aaaaaaaway! Oh oh I know old man, you want this genius guy me to commit a Cat&Rat game with that brat right? No worry no worry I promise I will do it in your place! For FREEEEEEEEEEE….."

Ignoring the psycho bastard's speech Issei began to conduct a plan to escape.

But where should he go? He couldn't go to his house, it'd endanger his parents and the neighborhood. Kuou Academy was the base of the Devils, he's not sure if Rias accepted to shelter Asia, the truce they sighed was clear on the no-trespassing other's base, as for Emiya… No he couldn't trouble the nice guy anymore.

So the last option was to run back to the abandoned church, if Freed went rogue then the White one had all the right reason to stomp on that psycho.

"Almost there Asia-san!"

"But Dohnaseek-san... I hope nothing bad happens to him."

The abandoned church had come into their view, but then a giant-like monster jumped out of nowhere and punched Issei in the gut.

"Uagh!"

He flew back several meters with it, bthankfully Rias had given him a magical shirt to be used in such case, the damage was reduced but not the shock. As Issei struggled to recover the horror came into his eyes: The monster now targeting the stunning Asia.

Then it was like a flash, the huge fist collided with the small body of Asia, sending her body flying backward. However he could see that she was saved, something had managed to shield Asia from the monster's attack.

"R-Raynare!?"

It was none other than his ex-girlfriend. Issei gritted his teeth as he shrugged off the shock to quickly come to rescue them.

"It… It's a... trap."

Raynare was badly hurt, but he thought Fallen Angel could take more hit than normal human? Why did she looked just as fragile as Asia?

Then she stood up, deep down in his heart Issei knew it was her will that allowed her to perform such act.

The fatal wound had dulled her usual voice.

"Reincarnation of Ddraig... you will never earn my forgiveness, but you can start to pay for what you did in the past by protecting Asia."

She then rushed to distract the monster.

"She deserves a better ending than this."

Even in his wildest dream he wouldn't dare to imagine those were her last words.

The monster didn't bother to block her light spear, soon Raynare was caught in its hand. Then the monster opened the ugly mouth to devour Raynare, it… it just ate the whole body of her like that.

*CHOW* *CHOW*

With a sweep he carried Asia on his arms and quickly ran away.

It was too much.

He hoped the poor nun could not hear the sickening, squelch and crunch of Raynare's broken bones and grinding flesh inside the jaw of the monster, with a quick glance his eyes told him Asia had entered shock, he knew it was wrong... but it was better if she stayed like this, at least for now.

His shirt was soaked by salty water.

He would definitely keep her safe, he had to do it. If others could throw away their lives to give a chance for other's to see a new day then Issei could do the same. If Raynare could place Asia's life above her hatred for the Heavenly Dragons then he must protect Asia at all cost. It is no longer a personal choice at this point, wasting her sacrifice would engrave a deep mark on his heart.

His escape wasn't long before he crashed into an invisible barrier.

Issei fought the tiredness slowly creeping through his body, he put his strength into breaking the barrier but to no avail it didn't succeed. It didn't take a genius to know that the monster was hot on their trail.

The teleportation paper Rias gave him could only be used on himself, but escaping without Asia? He's not a coward, Hyoudou Issei is not a coward.

The thumping quake indicated the monster was coming closer and closer behind them.

Issei held his breath, when it came to this he had to try something, his Sacred Gear could be activated and he would bet on it.

However before the monster could do its murdering job a large magic orb punched through its body, then a man in noble attire appeared. His fast yet packed tons of power moves annihilated the monster with ease. And then with monster blood dripping on his face he turned his head to them.

Something told Issei that this guy was not here to save them, or rather, 'Saving with profit'.

"Are you alright? Fortunately for you I have come to save you from that Stray Devil."

The handsome man then slapped Issei away.

"Get your filthy hand off her."

He carefully hugged Asia, but still the girl hadn't recovered from her shock.

...ill

"Do you remember me? I was the Devil who you helped years ago, now I have come to save you from this ugly human world. I have always followed you after that, I know that you were thrown rotten eggs and fruits because you healed me, I saw you running away from the mass who screamed out 'Burn that witch!', I watched as you tried to sleep under the rain alone while you just saved a child. Yet they treated you like that just because you are special my holy maiden. So why don't you come with me to the Underworld? We will be living happy forever ever after."

...ILL

He caressed Asia's long blond hair but still she didn't respond to him.

"Oh you poor little, sleep for awhile. When you wake up you will be thankful to me Asia."

KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL

KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL

KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL

KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL

[Explosion!]

Boosted Gear was there with Issei yet he didn't know how long, he just knew that he needed the power to kill this very man, this _Devil_ in front of him! He kicked the ground to headbutt the one who would take Asia away.

"Trash."

However none of his attacks connected, all he did was hitting many layers of barrier forming around the Devil, but still he didn't stop, he would never stop until Asia is safe.

"I have to clean this mess up before returning, Freed, you go take out this trash."

Issei didn't care that the psycho exorcist had returned, all he wanted was to save Asia. His arms'bones fractured as he pushed himself too far, the strains were building up on his weakened body, the blood began to dry his shirt as it came out from the wound earlier.

"I got to play with the infamous Sekiryuutei! Woohoo! You are the best boss ever Diodora-sama!"

But if Issei allowed himself to fall right now, no amount of regret would be enough, no amount of atonement would be enough.

"You will even get a better job at Chaos Brigade, your favorite hobby is cutting bodies right? Just wait until I contact them."

Before the psycho exorcist could pull out his weapon the invisible barrier shattered like old glass, a white silhouette appeared above them, in a blink of an eye it stomped Diodora's skull hard on the ground with a sickening crunch. Asia was handed unharmed to Issei.

"The rat falls into the trap, Red one. His words have been recorded."

After checking no harm was on Asia's body Issei responded to the White one in a raging tone.

"What the hell was you thinking!? You were trying to play dumb so you can catch them!? What if something happened to Asia!?"

Now it's all clear, the traitors must have used some kind of tricks to lure him away, then did something to neutralize the rest of the loyalists like Raynare.

"I'm always there on the sky to look after you, so no worry. If he tried to teleport it'd lead him straight to somewhere he never likes, of course those… unnecessary details wouldn't be in my report."

The armor on his body disappeared, now the silver hair man looked around in the battered area of the church, not showing one bit of emotion even when his subordinates got killed.

"It's better like this right? She's dead so you don't need anymore hard feeling. Now we will just need to wait for the Gremory to come. This despicable failure needed a lease on his neck don't you agree?"

Issei didn't reply him, he just picked up Asia and carried her out of this place.

[Partner.]

'Not now Ddraig.'

One last turn, and in those eyes of his rival Issei understood there was no use in avoiding the event labeled as 'Destiny'.

'Not for now.'

* * *

"The story between the two Heavenly Dragons, Saber you must know about the story of a red dragon fighting a white dragon right?"

It was the day after Shirou walked Hyoudou back home, wondered about the mysterious relationship between Vali and Hyoudou he decided to ask Rin about it, which ended up in her discipline mode. Saber was also there with him, sitting on a cushion.

"Yes, they said that the red dragon represented the Welsh, which also associated with my avatar as the red dragon who fought the invaders represented by the white dragon."

"In this world the red dragon and white one existed in different forms, they're the beasts born from a mass of power, that's why their nature is none but arrogant and prideful."

Rin then opened a book and presented to him and Saber the image of two dragons glaring at each other viciously.

"These two, they are the ones who attained the title of "Heavenly Dragons", the red one is Ddraig the Welsh Dragon, while the white one is Albion the Vanishing Dragon. The tale is, is that they have been fighting each other for a long time, but the reason for their fight is unknown to anyone. In the end the two were killed by the Christian God and the Demon Lords, their bodies were cut into pieces and their souls forged into Sacred Gears."

"Eh? But why did the Christian God and Demon Lords do something like that?"

"You have heard about the Great War between Devil, Heaven and the Fallen right? The Heavenly Dragons were too focus on their own fights that they didn't realize the Biblical Factions' soldiers were slain from the backlash of their attacks, so God decided to ally with the Demon Lords to stop the dragons together."

"To think the dragon associated with my avatar was that reckless, I honestly had no idea."

"However even after their souls became the power sources for the Sacred Gear the deathmatch never stops. The Sacred Gear that evolved into Longinus, the Boosted Gear and Divine Dividing, those who possess them are called Sekiryuutei and Hakuryuukou respectively."

Finally Rin closed the book, but there was a melancholy expression on her face.

"And whenever Sekiryuutei meets Hakuryuukou, they will fight until one of them die."

Shirou had a shocked face, he held his breath and quickly said.

"Wait wait Rin, you can't mean that-"

"Yes, Hyoudou-san is destined to fight Vali-san to death."

"But that is wrong! Why would they do that? It's not them wanting to kill each other but the dragons inside them!"

"Shirou listen, you know, the majority of this world see Sekiryuutei and Hakuryuukou as the reincarnations of the Heavenly Dragons. It is the 'They hold the souls and powers of the dragons therefore they are the dragons themselves.' idea. We barely talked with Vali-san so how did he view this is out of our reach, but I guess he must be influenced by it, to the point he wants to keep his rival safe so he can repeat the ancient battle."

Saber frowned upon hearing that.

"Vali-san is very strong, the first time I met him I already determined to use all of my might to catch him off surprise, but to think that Hyoudou-san has to face him… I'm sorry but I can't see Hyoudou-san survive from their battle."

Rin had a thoughtful look with Saber's words.

"Tell me Saber, if you compare him to the Servants we faced in the Holy Grail War, how would you rank him?"

"Vali-san is, frankly I don't see him as strong as Beserker, he's not as fast as Lancer too but it should be somewhere near Shirou at his best. The biggest trait I detect from him is his Prana supply. It's huge Rin, at least on par with you and Caster together."

"Combine with magic system of this world, damn it he can be a broken magician with that alone. We have to take Fay-san into account that it's possible for him to learn magic from her, adding Divine Dividing into the mix… This is too much for Hyoudou-san handle."

If Rin's analyze was right, then Shirou could see the ending of their fight, but still he had to do everything he could to help Hyoudou. It's so wrong to see someone walking to death like that.

"Rin, if Vali-san is Hakuryuukou, then what is his Sacred Gear's abilities? I have learned about Boosted Gear already."

"Divide Dividing has two main abilities, the first one is [Divide] which allows him to halve the power of his opponent, the second is [Absorb] which allows him to take in the power he halved earlier into his body."

"Such dangerous skills, then how would one fight if his power gets taken away like that?"

"I know right Saber? Hyoudou-san's Boosted Gear does the opposite of Vali-san, if Hakuryuukou halves and steals then Sekiryuutei doubles and gives, which resulted in a stalemate until one of them collapses."

"On top of that Vali-san has great Prana supply…"

Shirou could feel the hopelessness began to slip up through his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. If he, a Faker was able to defeat the King of Heroes through various trials, then Hyoudou definitely could do it too.

Now with these information what Shirou needed to do is to convince Hyoudou to train.

However plans never went as one expected, in a straight week Shirou never saw Hyoudou even once, he thought that it would be better if Hyoudou had a good rest but this was slicing his patience thin day after day. If Hyoudou didn't have sufficient training then only death awaited him, and Shirou would have none of that.

So he started by going to look for Hyoudou, first was his house. The Hyoudou told him that their son came home late today, they didn't know where their son went after school but Shirou had a rough idea about it.

And so Shirou came to the abandoned church. The ground was a huge messed up, there's the traces of battle everywhere. As Shirou wondered what happened he picked up the pace. When he arrived at the church there's no one in the room so he went to the backyard, only to see Argento kneeling down before a newly set of grave stones.

Hyoudou on the other hand was planting flowers on each of the graves, with a glance he could see 'Raynare', 'Dohnaseek', 'Mittelt', 'Kalawarner' to name a few whom he had no idea about.

"Oh Emiya-san?"

With a tired voice Hyoudou greeted him, then he simply gestured Shirou to come back inside the church. Meanwhile Argento was still praying to the death.

"So what happened Hyoudou-san?"

"Please call me Issei Emiya-san, first I'd like to thank you and your friends for saving my life. About this… It happened yesterday."

Then Issei told him about the betrayal of a psycho Fallen exorcist and a plan baked by a Devil that killed every Fallen Angel in this area. Issei too almost died if Vali didn't come to save them.

"Tch-"

Shirou bit his lips.

"Please don't worry about it Emiya-san, the ones who's wrong have been punished. Although from what Vali said that psycho Freed was fast enough to run away from the troubles."

"Issei-san, I'm sorry to hear that you had been through such hardship but there's this matter I'd like to discuss with you. I have heard about the story between Sekiryuutei and Hakuryuukou..."

A part of Shirou wanted to push this matter in reality, the rest of him didn't want to force Issei to just do what he demanded, but still he spoke all his thought about it.

"I understand that Vali-san saved you because he wants to fight you. But are you strong enough to defend yourself Issei-san?"

The young Sekiryuutei dazed out of a moment, he looked at Shirou then chuckled.

"That? No way I'm stronger than him, but it's fine. I can manage it by myself."

"I have a propose Issei-san, you're up to a spar?"

From his tone Issei didn't seem to care about this matter, which was something Shirou couldn't allow. He had to be sure that Issei had the skills to save himself in the battle with his rival the next 3 weeks.

"Spar? Pardon me but I want to take my time to be with Asia-san, you know, the nun living in this place."

With that said he took out his shirt, revealed the left arm covered in distorted dark green color tattoo, no they weren't tattoo, a closer look told Shirou that those were deep scars under his skin.

"This is the price I have to pay to muster my strength trying to save Asia-san. As you can see I'm not even allowed to do heavy stuffs, say, if I carry something that's heavier than 10% of my total weight my cellphone will record it. Then Rias-senpai would scold me for being too stubborn and not caring about what she said."

He put his shirt back on his body in a swift moment.

"I don't want to make her upset Emiya-san, it's a crime of a man to make a girl sad."

Issei then stood up and went to take the nun into the church.

Shirou wasn't sure what he needed to do anymore.

He knew that Issei couldn't train because of his body.

He knew that Issei had to spend more time to take care of Asia Argento.

He knew they're destined to kill each other.

But he still had time, and Emiya Shirou would do anything to save a life, even if it meant he would lose something in return.

And so days later when Issei was healed completely Shirou had asked him again if he's up to a spar, and surprisingly the young Sekiryuutei agreed.

This change had lit up a small hope inside Shirou, therefore he tried his best to teach Issei. Just like what Saber did to him he began to increase the awareness of Issei in combat, to ensure that he must understand one simple mistake would take him to the grave.

It was then that Shirou realized Issei was a true amateur at fighting, his footsteps were all wrong, his stance had no advantages, his moves-both offense and defense were too inefficient, it would be child's play for an opponent to exploit an opening.

While the first spar was beyond hopeless, Issei did become better over time.

He changed from using a bokken to using his Sacred Gear in a form of gauntlet and Shirou had to admit that he was really good at it. His combat style was wild and unpredictable. Not trained but rather, improvised.

Did this happen because Shirou forced Issei to the corner? ...He had no clue. Saber once sparred with him… it was a solid one and a half minutes of Issei being beaten to a pulp. But even she had to admit, the young Sekiryuutei had potential.

When things were becoming better and better, Rin brought a video back to their apartment.

It was the night before the last day they could afford to train Issei, Rin came home with a footage of how Vali fought in her hands. Through various pulls Rin managed get a record from the Grigory's database. And it became a nightmare for them when the video started to play.

Vali's body was covered in a white armor with a motif of a dragon, then he crushed through various beasts that one could only hope to see in myths and legend. He was a ruthless fighter, but his armor did not even have a single scratch during the hunt, his magic bullets were bigger than the ones Caster used but had the same rate of fire, and the horror came when he used his Sacred Gear on a monster planning to use a huge boulder as projectile. The poor beast immediately shook, in seconds its limbs couldn't hold the boulder and in the end it got crushed by the very boulder it tried to throw to Vali.

"Is that the effect of [Divide]?"

"Indeed it is, hey Saber if you fight him do you think you can win?"

"I can't tell Rin, I'm confident that I can beat him in a straight swordplay, his combat style is quite simple and contains neither feints nor complex moves. But if he flies around bombarding and occasionally diving down to use his Sacred Gear I'm afraid the one likely comes out with a victory is he. If only… From this footage I can see that he needs to touch his opponent to use his special ability, so if he comes close to me it can be used as a trap to lure him in for a direct hit."

Saber then replayed the video again to make sure she didn't miss anything.

"Rin, where does his armor come from? How durable it is? If Sekiryuutei and Hakuryuukou are rivals then surely Hyoudou-san should possess the same armor?"

"Yes Saber, but Hyoudou-san doesn't have one now. The armor Vali-san used in that footage called Balance Breaker, it's the ultimate form of a Sacred Gear. I heard that to unlock it the user must go through special conditions and one large emotional trigger."

Shirou didn't join the conversation, because all he could see is the defeated Issei on the ground. Dead at the hands of the man who sent them to this town.

Dead at the hands of so called 'Destiny'.

It was true that he had done his best to help Issei these 3 weeks, but no matter what Shirou couldn't imagine Issei beating Vali, especially when he didn't even win against him or Saber in sparring.

'What should I do?'

Shirou carried the same question again and again in that night.

"Shirou-san? Can you teach me how to make apple pie today? I'd like make one for Rias-senpai and her Peerage, they have been helping me a lot during this month."

It was when Issei asked Shirou that he managed to snap out of his mind.

"Issei-san… But, what about-"

"It's fine Shirou-san. It's destiny after all."

There was no fear in his voice, the only thing Shirou could feel was a calmness. Was this because the young Sekiryuutei didn't know about what Vali's capable of? No he did tell Shirou that Vali rescued him by defeating a noble Devil, he must have witnessed that power level from the very start…

To watch a nice guy like Issei marching toward the inevitable battle... It's just, it-

"Come on Shirou-san, show me your super cooking skills. Those guys would be jealous with me if they know I'm gonna have one hell of a party with a bunch of beauties."

"Oh right you start with these. And what you said, they're your friends Issei-san?"

How could he forget it.

"More or less, they failed at the entrance test to Kuou High so they're currently studying somewhere else."

"Now I'll teach you how to choose apples…"

The day ended with Issei joining a dinner with the trio, they tasted the very first meal Issei made, even though it wasn't good at all, the dishes Issei made could never on par with Shirou, some were too rough cutting and some were lacking certain seasoning.

But nobody said a word. They could not allow themselves to complain when they knew this could very well be the last day they met him.

After Issei finally went home Saber came to hug Shirou's shoulders from behind.

"It's okay Saber. All these days made me forget the time in the Holy Grail War."

That's right. Is it not the same circumstance when he had to face the King of Heroes who eliminated other Servants like nothing?

Shirou could see Issei was walking the same path, he had chosen a road for him, and as his temporary tutor Shirou must respect his wish.

"Of course it doesn't mean I can't help him, you with me Saber?"

"Yes, let us do this together Shirou."

"Sigh, not you too Saber, when did this guy's idiot plague manage to infect even you?"

Even though Rin made a snarky comment, Shirou her inside was nothing like that.

"I-I suppose I can go too. But it's not because I want to help you! I just want to test the new spells I learned this month!"

"Yes Rin-sama."

* * *

Once again Shirou found himself stalking Issei, but this time he did it to ensure the safety of the young Sekiryuutei.

"Oh the great hero Emiya Shirou is doing a job of a creepy hardcore fan."

"Rin, the last time you also-"

"Hit him Saber!"

"You're being too loud Rin."

Shirou sighed, was this some soft of karma redirected on him for stalking Issei the first time? Nonetheless the trio continued to follow Issei, finally they reached the abandoned church.

"It seems like this location will become the battlefield, I can feel a barrier set up to seal off the area."

Shirou walked into the church as he listened to Rin's analysis.

In the middle of the courtyard stood two people, the one with the back to the forest was Vali. They stared at each other intensively. It was the glare that one could misunderstand for the need to devour the one at their opposite.

No words were spoken yet Shirou knew the time had come.

"Hey Red one, those guys are your backup?"

Vali's words made Issei turned his head toward Shirou and his friends, the Sekiryuutei widened his eyes for a moment before hissing why they were there in the first place.

"Issei-san, I know this is destiny but I can't let myself to witness someone got harmed out of it."

This was what Shirou wanted, to become a hero to protect everyone. The ideal that he cherished, the beautiful ideal even if it's impossible for him to accomplish.

"Vali the Hakuryuukou! If you looking for a challenge then I, Emiya Shirou would accept yours as much as you want!"

Perhaps… Because it is impossible that he always chases after it.

"Hey do you see that your apprentice facepalming Shirou?"

"T-That's not important now Rin."

Ignoring Rin's sarcastic comment Shirou prepared his mind to focus on his magic circuits.

To his left Saber stepped up, light covered her body as she manifested her armor, in those feminine yet strong hands of her appeared an invisible sword.

Vali looked at the trio, then back to Issei, then back to the trio again.

"What a hassle."

With a sneer Vali threw Issei a bracelet, when Issei caught it a magic circle appeared below him and Issei. As someone who had been taught magic by Rin Shirou recognized this: Vali was trying to teleport him and Issei away!

"Like that's gonna work!"

However Rin's trademark magic circle blocked the magic Vali executing, overwrote them thus rendered the teleportation spell useless.

"Ha! Now you can't teleport Issei-san anymore!"

Shirou could see that Issei was avoiding his glance, he must be uncomfortable with this development but still. Shirou would listen to his rambling later once the problem is dealt with!

"I will not hold back Vali-san, I only know this one spell so I will go all out at the start!"

Thus, Emiya Shirou chanted the one and only aria he knew the best.

This, was his greatest spell. This, was his greatest pride.

[I am the bone of my sword]

[Steel is my body and fire is my blood]

He knew the end of his ideal-self.

[I have created over a thousand blades]

[Unaware of loss, Nor aware of gain]

However he would never stray from the path he chose.

[Withstood pain to create weapons, waiting for one's arrival]

[I have no regrets. This is the only path]

[My whole life is unlimited blade works]

Fire burned the courtyard where they stood.

Shirou was not alone, he knew Rin and Saber would always be there for him.

A thousands thank you would never be enough for them two.

"Here I come Vali the Hakuryuukou! Brace yourself!"

And on that hill of swords they did battle.

* * *

 **AN: Once I'd like to thank joshiewoshie for helping me.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor High school DxD.**

 **Chapter 5**

Equipping the Married swords, Kanshou and Bakuya, Shirou faced the possessor of Divine Dividing.

"Here I come Vali-san! Brace yourself!"

The silver hair man did not focus on him but rather, his arsenal embedded into the ground around them.

"For a guy trying to help… his friend? Issei is your friend right? You are quite violent. As far as I can tell, this is not the work of a Balance Breaker. Is it some kind of large scale magic?"

While the Hakuryuukou regarded his surrounding with the inspective gaze of a tactician, the trio got into their positions, with the duo of front-line combatants, Saber and Shirou being the vanguard and Rin in the rear to support. With Vali's guard down as far as they could tell, Shirou knew they could have struck the first blow. But he chose to wait in order to bait out Vali's abilities with the show of their own power.

"You can choose to forfeit this battle Vali-san, I promise I will not stab you in the back."

If Vali retreated they would have more time to train Issei to unlock whatever 'armor mode' his Boosted Gear had to reconcile the already hopeless gap in power between the two.

'Hopefully Vali-san chooses to fight in another day.'

If he could Shirou would have preferred to avoid fighting the leader of the siblings who helped them so many months ago, and maybe… maybe even convince Vali not to follow the destined deathmatch between Sekiryuutei and Hakuryuukou. But he wouldn't kid himself, he knew he had little to no chance of ever convincing Vali to heed such an… 'unreasonable' request. But… he still wanted to give him that chance.

Vali merely gave a small nod of his head as he touched the ground with his bare hand.

"I see, this is a dimensional-type magic, you use that chant to drag people around you into somewhere with battle advantages. This hill of swords of yours is quite magnificent, I can barely recognize some of these weapons."

Light shrouded Vali's body, Shirou knew the Hakuryuukou would not back down, swords to impale him were already prepared for summoning.

With a quick glance Shirou confirmed Saber's position. Perfectly suited to defend Rin, he too would not move too much from his position. If Vali decided to execute a dive down like what he did in the footage Saber would counter him. He had no idea if Vali's armor could take a direct hit from Saber but it would at least give her a chance to deal damage to Vali.

The only problem is if Vali could see through the trap laid out by Shirou or not.

The white armor spread it's blue wings.

"This place is reeks of the smell of magic, and it doesn't feel like the same field created by Dimension Lost, I doubt this place can exist without the caster pouring mana into it continuously."

The truth is Shirou hadn't seen or learned from Rin that there was an equal type of magecraft similar to his Reality Marble in this world, naturally he couldn't avoid being shocked at the fact that Vali almost saw through his power. Saber stepped a bit closer to him and whispered into his ear.

"Be careful Shirou, this man is not just a ruthless warrior, if he feels threatened he would choose to analyze his enemy before rushing into battle."

 _The time to negotiation had ended._

"Then I shall take the initiative!"

As Shirou's command a barrage of swords launched toward the Hakuryuukou floating in the air. Vali responded those with load of magic circles firing bullets back at the swords while dodging at the same time.

Each of those magic bullets from Vali was even bigger than the ones he demonstrated in the footage! Shirou felt his heart beat faster as he quickly replaced the broken swords to keep the wave coming up. Saber on the other hand had a hard grip on her invisible sword, carefully defending Rin while looking for a chance to snipe Vali the moment he dropped his guard.

Meanwhile Rin-

"Stand still so I can teleport you out!"

"Why!? For what!? I will not back off like a coward!"

"How many times I have to tell you to abandon this hopeless fight you idiot!? You stand no chance against the guy who flies like a super jet with mega rockets armed to the teeth! Hell, with his mastery over Divine Dividing maybe teeth is the only thing he needs to kick your ass!"

"Y-You guys just barged in a fight between me and him from out of nowhere!"

Issei shook his head in denial.

"I never asked for this."

"Oh so you want to die before getting a girl for real? What a loser. Look at me Issei-san, I played smart, I survived and got this blond and ginger into my possession!" Rin tossed her hair back, and smirked triumphantly. "That's right Issei-san! You were expecting Emiya Shirou the harem protagonist, but it was me, Tohsaka Rin!"

'R-Rin…!'

A thunder-wait that's impossible, how the hell could thunder be here? He's inside his Reality Marble! Shirou took another glance only to see Issei on his knees in defeat from Rin's latest verbal assault. Said girl in question, had her arms crossed and face set in a sneer of superiority!

"Grandfather in heaven your grandson has failed you! Even a girl managed to accomplish it before me…!"

"Muhahahaha! Finally admit your loss? Now-hey didn't I tell you to stop running!"

A-Anyway it only a matter of time before Rin got Issei out of this place. Vali still kept up with Shirou so he needed a new plan, with Vali's Prana supply on par with Caster and Rin together the one who lose this battle of attrition would be Shirou.

"Ora!"

The battlecry signaled Shirou entering a melee fight, at the same time the barrage of swords targeting Vali disappeared as well as the magic circles covering his position.

Shirou could not hope to compete with Vali in a melee fight. He had no chance of that, even memories of the swords making up for the difference in skill, the difference in strength and speed between them was too high, his Reinforcement only added a drop to the vast pool he had to face. In this battle Shirou was up against a warrior who was a master of his chosen weapon. This man was not the arrogant Gilgamesh who took fighting like game until he got pushed back, no, Vali was different.

At one point Shirou could see him using magic such as lightning, water or fire to intercept his swords and blades. The Hakuryuukou had to be trying to pick out the best spell when it came to negate certain weapons launching at him, which only made Shirou understood why Arthur chose to follow this man.

Shirou dashed to Vali as he recalled the much bigger monsters in the footage being slaughtered with ease.

The Faker was not that confident Vali would not be able take him out in one hit, so the whole melee fight he carrying out was just a ruse. Shirou used himself as a bait to lure Vali coming closer, and when he dropped his guard to focus on Shirou, Saber would charge in for a direct hit.

First he had to make way for Saber, a straight line would be the best.

"You even have dragon-slayer weapons at your disposal."

What came out later would be-

"You three are worthy. Underestimating you will cost me a great deal."

His instinct screamed out for him to stop. Shirou stepped two steps back as he observed the silver hair man.

The blue light on his energy wings brightened the sky.

[I, who was about to awaken]

"Do not let him finish the chant Shirou!"

[Am the Heavenly Dragon who has taken the principles of supremacy from God]

Right after Rin's order Shirou launched as many swords as he could at Vali but none were connected as he flew up to the sky above like a rising star. Meleeing him was impossible now.

[I envy the "Infinite" and I pursue the "Dream"]

The air shook, a strong wind that slowly turning itself to become a storm formed as light shone from Saber's hands. The invisible sheath was coming off.

[I shall become the White Dragon of Supremacy...]

The King of Knights raised her Noble Phantasm, the usual long sword now had become a pillar of golden light.

[And I shall take you to the limits of white paradise!]

"Eeex-Calibuuuuuur!"

[Juggernaut Drive!]

The moment the golden ray that piercing through the heavens clashed with the white sphere that became the source of light on the sky the surrounding got distorted, the clouds were blown away, the scenery changed from high noon to red dusk as Shirou felt his Reality Marble get disrupted. He struggled, his circuits burned as more and more Prana flowed into patching the holes inside the Reality Marble.

[Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide!]

The White sphere extinguished the Golden ray.

And all were brought to their knees. Rin couldn't help but cry out at this utterly ridiculous scene before her.

"Ugh! Such pressure… This… Is this the Dragon of Supremacy!?"

A creature descended from the sky, and no matter what Shirou could only see it as an armored dragon, with those features like sharp claws, large wings, spiked back and long tail. Shirou also knew this could be nothing but trouble, a different danger compare to the lump of black copper Berserker.

It's not a bloodlust monster but something beautiful, full of dignity yet gave out the vibe of savage arrogant.

Saber raised her sword again, prepared for another attack.

But the cost for it was something Shirou had to put into consideration whether he should stop her or not.

His experiences in the Holy Grail War taught him that Servants like Saber needed a huge and constant supply of Prana, they could only exist on the world because the Grail bore the majority of the Prana cost. But with the Grail got destroyed the only ones who could supply the Servant were their Masters, and in this case it was none other than Rin.

However even with her circuits Saber would disappear if she used too much Prana, namely the cost she needed to heal herself and ultimate attack like her Excalibur. Therefore to keep her with them they had agreed on a rule that Saber was only allowed to use Excalibur's heavy attack twice a week.

So right now when he knew Vali didn't go down Saber had to take a second try, and this one would determine the result of their battle. Shirou did not know how did Vali become so much stronger than before with that chant, but he could worry about that later.

The white sphere disappeared before everyone's eyes, Shirou immediately raised his twin blades to guard himself as his friends did the same. But nothing happened? The white armored dragon returned to the place it was before after its disappear in less than a blink.

The King of Knights jumped back to her Master with her sword still on defense.

"Don't let your guard down Shirou! He has done something to us!"

But what? What he had done in such impossible time frame? Shirou's anxiety rose as he quickly checked his circuits.

"Be happy that you got good friends Red one."

The horror came.

[Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide! Divide!]

[Half Dimension!]

The sound came from the white armored dragon passed its judgement on the trio. The hill of swords faded, the armor on Saber turned off.

Even though the twin married swords were still inside his hands, Shirou felt defenseless as he stabbed them to the ground just to not collapse. He could see Saber too kneed one leg down as her sword gone away. Both of them quickly took a look at Rin to make sure they could help her in a nick of time.

As fast as she could Rin brought out several potions and chucked them down rapidly.

Finally Shirou understood the fearful existence known as the Heavenly Dragons as the strength in his body was lost. His Reality Marble gave up as it stopped its influence upon the world. Now they were back to the courtyard of the church again.

"Seems like your familiar requires large amount of magical energy to sustain."

"Rin!"

"It's fine Shirou, I can keep up the supply."

But not a second time, Shirou read through her eyes.

He clenched his teeth hard, this wasn't what he expected. The footage they watched was barely what Vali's capable of. Now that his UBW had ended, Saber was out of the fight and Rin had to make sure Vali wouldn't use his Sacred Gear on her again… or they would die.

Shirou did his best to stop shaking but the image of Issei had to face his overpowered rival by himself could not get out of his brain. No matter what Issei could not even dream of confronting a warrior who could cripple him with a single touch.

He could feel cold sweat rolling on his back as his mind worked as fast as it could to find a solution to save Issei.

Vali's posture become a little relax compared to before.

"Make sure to thank them properly Red one, to appreciate that they have shown me their best I allow them to witness my strongest form. Now the time I can maintain Balance Breaker is shortened a lot-"

Issei responded with his own chant.

[I, who was about to awaken]

It's time. The waiting is over.

The bracelet on Issei's arm shone up before broken into a trail of blazing fire. The voices in his mouth was not him but an echo ranging from old men, middle-age women and even young adults.

[Am the Heavenly Dragon who has stolen the principles of domination from God]

They ask for it. They always ask for more power.

The power Shirou could feel inside Issei raised up over the top, since when he was this strong? He never felt it before in their sparring.

[I laugh at the "Infinite", and I grieve at the "Dream"]

The Great Ones will fall one day! We shall make Them fall!

"T-This is…! But how…? How!?"

Rin's ominous words only increased the panic inside Shirou.

[I shall become the Red Dragon of Domination...]

Be prepared! Be prepared! Be prepared! Be prepared! Be prepared!

Issei walked toward Vali, the power he possessed never stopped increasing for a second.

"I'm glad that I show you this Red one! You never cease to amaze me!"

The laugh from Vali could make one mistaken him for a psycho who drunk in too much powers.

[And I shall sink you to the depths of the crimson purgatory!]

"Our synchronization has risen up to a whole new level!"

[Juggernaut Drive!]

Light painted Issei red as he grew larger, soon the human Issei became an armored dragon like Vali.

However it was… different. It didn't have the same dignity or beautiful vibe the white armored dragon gave out. The only things it had were the ugly of the wild, a monster ignited the fear inside the hearts of the people just by existing.

A beast born to decimate, born to slaughter, born to kill. For once Shirou felt like his first time facing Beserker.

And Vali sneered at that very beast.

"Incomplete? What a disappointment. That bracelets function is to let you use Balance Breaker but skipping that to this, you are insane Red one."

If he wasn't in his armor Shirou swore Vali had to be licking his lips.

 _"I like that."_

Answered to the overpowered white armored dragon was a deep inhuman voice from the jaw of the red beast.

 **[5!]**

The barrier crashed as the two silhouettes of red and white began their destined fight. They moved so fast that Shirou could only see a pair of light mixing together and dragging on the sky like an insane artist decided his work would be recorded as the best in the world using only two colors.

 **[4!]**

A huge crater formed right next to Shirou, then a few more on the ground.

 **[3!]**

The tower of the church turned into dust as its leftover followed the trail of light.

 **[2!]**

The red light's speed dropped, now it only stayed in one place while the white light assaulted it from all direction.

 **[1!]**

The unclear result came just as fast as the escalated situation.

[Burst!]

The red beast fell like a meteor, sliding on the ground after the brutal battle with its rival. Soon the broken armor gone leaving a coughing, and bleeding Issei lay on the ground, trying to keep his consciousness.

Vali however, was fine. He dismissed his armor, his breathing was merely hard. Dread crawled into Shirou's stomach. Issei was going to die.

And he could not save him.

"You have lost Red one, you must obey my command from now on. Once your body is healed meet me at the church."

Eh?

"Bastard… Ugh I only join if you have hot girls on your team."

Huh?

"Good, that means you have no head injuries. Call the redhead, you just landed on the border of the forest which isn't inside the church territory so no one will cross the truce."

Vali then looked at the trio.

"Excalibur huh? Interesting."

He strolled into the church.

"We will meet again."

The afterward involved a panic Asia running out to heal Issei and a furious Gremory lecturing how reckless he was, but in the end Issei was taken to the hospital so Shirou's sure he would be alright. The abandoned church on the hand was somewhat fixed by Vali through magic...somewhat. He didn't bother to replace the tower part though.

As for him and his friends they didn't have any wound but exhausted, they just need a proper rest. But to think Vali didn't kill Issei but made him his … subordinate? So Vali wanted to recruit more members for his mercenary team?

"To think it turns out to be this, were we being overly cautious?"

Shirou asked himself rhetorically while Rin complained she had to restock her potions again.

"Well at least Vali-san didn't fight to death."

* * *

 **AN: Sorry but steam summer sale hit me so hard I didn't manage to finish this sooner, still I'd try to update this weekly. Thank you very much _joshiewoshie_ for helping me.**

 **: It lacked the necessary build-up to show Raynare's good side correct? Well when I wrote this I intent to make her a Fallen who sought to kill the Heavenly Dragons for putting her God into a coma (she didn't know the truth of course) and if she loved God then surely she would try to help people who still believed in God like Asia too. The core idea was to make her a gray character, not a full dark one via the hatred on Ddraig and Albion. I recall that Azazel said he didn't want to let those with powers to run loose like before since they just kaboom the shit out of everything as they wanted.**

 **Of course "Good" Boosted Gear/Divine Dividing possessors existed.**

 **YuukiAsuna-Chan: I guess so? I mean IC Shirou wants to help everyone as much as he can, especially this is the Shirou who kept his ideal even after meeting his ideal-self. Even with the same recipes you can make something new out of it, but I understand if you don't have the same taste as me.**

 **And you have seen all of these ideas in this draft before? You must read quite a lot.**

 **For anyone else if you have a problem with this chapter (mainly the fight), meet me on "The Mechanic of In Flight" forum, thread "Discussions and Debates", I will do my best to answer your questions.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor High school DxD.**

 **Chapter 6**

With the help of Twilight Healing, he didn't need to stay in the hospital for long. This gift from the Christian God could heal almost any kind of wound at the cost of the possessor stamina. With its only limitation being that it could not eliminate fatigue and illness.

When he told Rias about it the Devil had shown interest in recruiting someone with a similar ability, her Peerage did not have an expert on the matters of healing in the middle of battle. A member with such ability would be welcomed. However when asked if she wanted to recruit Asia Argento she replied in the negative, stating it was best if the nun continued to remain as a human.

 _'Someone so faithful should not become the very race her faith taught her to avoid, mistrust and destroy.'_

Or rather, 'Her mind would break bit by bit if she became a devil, her soul would be forever torn between her new identity and the teachings she had been indoctrinated in her whole life.'

Issei did not know how to reply so he kept his peace as Rias nonchalantly pelt an apple for him. His mind ran a question; Why didn't she try to recruit him? They had known each other long enough to form a bond, and Issei understood the majority of Devils desired Power. Something he had plenty to spare.

Would not recruiting the legendary Sekiryuutei earn her great esteem in the eyes of Devil society? Wasn't that a win-win situation for them?

 _'Ise-kun should just be Ise-kun the perverted client.'_

He put a little more effort into analyzing the situation they were in, his investment of time in gaming put into practice. Issei connected the dots as he filled the puzzle in his theory.

He, the Red Dragon Emperor who lived in this town, the same town where the Heiress of Gremory had a base. If someone wanted to take over her territory, they had to consider the possibility of earning the wrath of this generation's Sekiryuutei combined with the force of Sona Sitri's and Rias Gremory's Peerage.

These groups had no strings to entangle as Issei wasn't a Devil, he simply had good relationship with the local Devils, therefore if someone attacked them likely there was a good chance he would help them out in return for free favours, especially when the Peerage mostly consisted of cute females while the Sekiryuutei was reportedly a harem seeker.

Clever Rias, very clever.

Not only would she keep her Evil Pieces for use in other circumstances, she would also gain an ally in her town, Issei also knew she had planned to train him when she asked earlier if he wanted to learn how to control his powers better. A way to benefit both him and her Servants, one does not simply get a chance to spar with the legendary Sekiryuutei.

He checked the paper once last time.

"I like the nurse uniform, the design clearly emphasises on the breasts-."

"Your time in the hospital is over. Patient Hyoudou Issei, _out_. **Now**."

Welp, he probably shouldn't have stared intensely at the nurses working their shifts during his time here. At least the images of their figures and the way their uniforms fit snugly against their large breasts were carved deep into his mind. Now the girls of Occult Research Club in nurse uniform...

Issei decided to visit Shirou the next White one could kill his own time, maybe starting with repairing the church or upgrading it with more modern fixtures. No way in hell Issei would like to see Asia living in such a crappy place. For now he would get home for a full rest, after meeting with Shirou that is.

The way to Shirou's apartment wasn't far, Issei arrived at the destination after five minutes of cycling.

"You looking for Shirou? He's out for part time jobs, several of them."

The one greeting him in a sleepy voice was none other than the magician who had close connection with Rias, Tohsaka Rin. He didn't understand when Shirou told him she wasn't a morning person before but looks like he got it now.

"If you don't have anything else to say then get home, I will ask Shirou to call you once he's home."

"Er no, I would like to talk to you and Saber-san."

Her eyebrow twitched, her eyes seemed to be running a high level calculations at a speed of fifty calculations a second, then she welcomed him in but with a slightly less tired voice.

Issei saw the breakfast on the table which included fried eggs, salad and breads. He wanted to say something but seeing Saber eating to her heart's content he chose to shut his mouth.

"You're thinking something rude aren't you? Saber here lived in a faraway country where a meal like this was a feast, so don't look down on her like that again. None of us appreciate that."

'Why girls are so dangerous? She's just like Rias when I have weird ideas in my head.'

Saber didn't seem to care about the small warning of Rin though. Issei swore the one made breakfast today wasn't Shirou but either one of them.

After the breakfast was inhaled by the small blonde woman, Issei didn't even get a chance to ask anything before he found himself bombarded by Rin's pre-prepared questions.

"You, the Sekiryuutei should have sufficient knowledge on your Sacred Gear, so explain the Dragon of Supremacy for me. The encyclopedia I have doesn't have much information on that part, in fact the only thing I got from it is the name."

A note was on the table with Rin's pen ready for his answer, meanwhile Saber also sat next to the female magician, apparently she's interested in Ddraig the Welsh Dragon.

'Excalibur huh?'

Casting that memory aside Issei began his explanation.

"You guys already know Balance Breaker is the ultimate form of a Sacred Gear, however Longinus-Sacred Gear that evolved into a higher tier by possessing multiple abilities has extra features compares to the usual Sacred Gear. Each of the Longinus is unique, and in my case-the Boosted Gear has one more mode beyond the normal Balance Breaker."

Issei summoned his gauntlet.

"This one contains the soul of a Heavenly Dragon, Ddraig the Welsh Dragon with power on the level of gods. So even when his body got mutilated and his soul forged into a Sacred Gear his tremendous power was not diminished. Juggernaut Drive, in other word Dragon of Supremacy is a method to unleash the seal binding Ddraig's full power and gain the possessor this immense strength of his temporarily."

"I imagine the cost is as big as the powers one can attain via such dangerous way."

"Of course, once activated the user will go berserk unless their wills are strong enough. The longer he uses this mode the faster his lifespan gets drained until his soul is trapped inside the Longinus forever."

Rin dropped her pen in shock, but she picked it up fast and continued to take notes. Saber on the other hand raised an eyebrow at that detail.

"That, is the curse of Juggernaut Drive. The voices you heard when I began the chant belonged to all the fallen who came before me. Vali used his vast mana pool to pay for the cost of Juggernaut Drive, the bracelet he threw me in that fight was a sacrifice tool. It was designed to let me use Balance Breaker but seeing you guys fall for me I couldn't control my rage. Still 5 second is already too much for me to handle."

Issei deactivated his Boosted Gear, Rin didn't stop to write till now and Saber said nothing so he decided to start his turn to question them.

"What kind of spell Shirou-san used? I have never seen or heard of it before."

Surprisingly Saber was the one replied to him first.

"It is Shirou's greatest pride, he used his ideals to attain it. That magic is not something one can learn, only a few exception in the world can have it."

"I find it quite useful, in fact it must be on par with a Longinus with such huge collection of weapons waiting for his command like that."

Rin closed her notebook, she then took the biscuit on the table for a bite.

"That wanabe hero is only good at it."

"Hero? Shirou-san wants to be a hero?"

A hero. To Issei this dream wasn't a foolish, illogically one anymore, not when the one in question had such a versatile arsenal with him. In fact with his nature of helping people the image of Shirou saving the day wasn't something so unrealistic.

"That's pretty normal for someone like him."

"It's something you wouldn't understand Issei-san. Just know that he likes to help everyone as much as he can. He isn't doing well with magic either, at best he's only a second rate magician but he got that field of swords so he doesn't care much for others."

"But if he is interrupted while chanting, say someone hit him or distract him Shirou-san wouldn't be able to activate that field of swords? I think Juggernaut Drive got the same weakness too."

It took Rin a full minute of silence before she answered that question, somehow Issei guessed she was trying to keep her friend's secret, namely the weakness of that magic. He didn't think he was that close to them for them to share everything they knew.

"Beats me but Shirou is someone who bites the bullet to do what he really wants. He would probably continue his chant even if you punch him in the face."

"Ha ha is that so?"

That was an awkward laugh really. He changed his look from Rin to the small figure of the blond knight.

"Saber-san, if I recall correctly then you used Excalibur in that fight."

The golden pillar clashed against the white sphere was such an incredible scene that forgetting it could be counted as a sin.

"Yes, it is my sword Issei-san."

They kept silent after that, there was no more explanation to how she got the sword or she was a potential user. The air was getting heavier and heavier so Issei chose to not digging deeper. If they didn't want to talk here he shouldn't be rude to them.

"I'm just curious about it Saber-san. You know it is really rare to witness such a famous sword in action."

With that said Issei stood up, the White one would be impatient if he kept that guy in waiting, he should have gotten the news that he was out of the hospital now. Both Rin and Saber wished him the best when they knew he needed to go to that _shady silver hair guy_ 's place.

The road to the church was the same as before, Issei took his bicycle slowly as he recalled the past.

"Everything was different back there huh?"

These changes, were they good? If they were good then why his heart was wavering at the thought of returning to the old days? Returning to the life where he could cry and smile without worry.

Issei understood the reason why Ddraig was with him, he had much to accomplish. His life was bound by the thread of destiny. He had no other choice. If he wanted to go back to that life… he would have to _**shatter**_ them first.

It was an undeniable responsibility. A duty he had to carry till his last breath.

But even so… He did not have the power to change them, Hyoudou Issei's only choice is to move forward the future.

A better future…

"Red one? You got it yet?"

"No, I still need more time. Our synchronization should be the catalyst to accelerate the process of unlocking it."

The White one led him to the basement of the church, on his way he had a small hello to Asia who cleaning the room.

"This place…"

"Skip the small details, we have work here."

Issei summoned his Boosted Gear as the White one asked him to, this time he plucked the green gem out of his gauntlet, it lost its limelight immediately but still it would last on this world for a few more minutes.

"You sure you have enough luck?"

"Said the guy who risked his life more than me."

Vali grabbed the gem in Issei's hand in a rude manner, he then activated his Scale Mail and jammed the very green gem into his own.

"Ugh...! Ah!"

"Hold it in! I shall use my [Boost] on you!"

"No need Red one… Like I said, we have great synchronization this time… This will work like I want."

The green gem finally submitted to the will of Hakuryuukou as it shone brightly.

[Welsh Dragon Power Is Integrated!]

"...Bastard."

"You too, make sure you do the same thing to me Red one. You need to gather as much powers as we can."

Issei knew it. He was far too weak to accomplish what he wanted.

And for that he would do what necessary to gain more powers.

"Let's begin with your Balance Breaker first, jumping to Juggernaut Drive should enhance your connection to Boosted Gear by a large amount."

There was no reason for him not to unlock it rapidly, the start of his journey to get the power to do as he wanted.

A Sekiryuutei awakened, would never have a normal life again.

* * *

The next day Issei went to meet the Kuou Student Council's President-Sona Sitri after class.

Her short black hair complimented the thin glasses which really gave out a vibe of a smart girl, Issei came to greet her and asked for a personal meeting. Sona then told the other members to let them have some time alone.

"You want me to what?"

The furious Sona stared daggers at Issei, he would have run if she was a stranger.

"I… You know, what inside the paper I gave you."

"I want you-Hyoudou Issei, to tell me what absurd you want me to do by your mouth."

He couldn't escape this Devil's wrath, he just knew it if he said those now.

"First I would like the Student Council's President-Sona Sitri, to fake a scholarship for me. The one that has a "Your son will be sent to somewhere faraway in 5 years to study up to college!". Then next I would like to resign from Kuou Academy-"

The air in the room froze, he could feel his legs shaking as the temperature fell. The cup of tea on the table became a lump of ice.

Issei continued his speech while he breathed out white air.

"Because I have lost to Hakuryuukou I must obey his commands. He wants me to follow him around the world for training and fighting strong foes-"

"Enough."

But the cold didn't stop.

"Hyoudou Issei, I understand your circumstance but you are walking the path of a wanderer."

Issei kept himself steady as he listened to Sona, he knew he needed to convince her to let him drop out of school without his parents knowing about it. He never wanted to worry them with the supernatural.

"What about schooling? Don't you want to find a legal job? Think about the consequences Issei, think about what will happen to you once you lose your precious youth right here Issei. The least of which is lying to your parents!"

The air in the room slowly regained its natural state, some of the paperwork wet from the sudden change of temperature. Not like it was a big problem with magic.

"Think about your friends Issei, they certainly wouldn't reach nice to your decision."

"I will not change my mind Sona. This is the path I have chosen."

He had no reason to sway. He had no reason to not harden his heart.

Even if _she_ tried to convince him he would not choose to stay here.

"Fine. But do remember the consequences Issei."

She then picked up his proposal paper again.

"Rias must be waiting for you, go meet her at the old school building."

Issei bowed his head to Sona one last time but she wasn't looking. She's still angry over his decision to drop school he guessed. Before he reached the door he turned back to Sona again.

"There's another thing Sona. Hakuryuukou has a request for you, he asked me to tell you about it."

"What would a high rank member from the Fallen want with me?"

"About Diodora's Peerage, can you do something about it? Like giving them a place to stay temporarily? I know their Master is being interrogated, House Astaroth has been placed under observation now so his Peerage has likely become excessive "tools" to them. They might get sold out if the current head of the House becomes desperate to restore their status."

Sona looked him in the eye, this time she had closed her heart. All she gave him was a cold stare, which slowly turning into a glare as time passed.

"Hakuryuukou wants them to be safe, he told me their Master doesn't have a chance to get out of the prison for his life."

"For a Fallen he's quite informative about the status of the Underworld, is there an explanation for this? Also why would he care about safety of Diodora's Peerage?"

Issei shrugged.

"I have no idea."

Sona's eyes drilled into his.

"Even if he asks me to help Diodora Astaroth Peerage I can't do it without a legitimate reason."

"You are the sister of Demon Lord Leviathan correct? You can use that connection of yours to perform a personal investigation on the involvement of his Peerage in the matter of Chaos Brigade. That way you can ensure their safety while no one can question you."

"... That method you tell me-"

Sona's aura rose in intensity, the cold once again settling upon the room.

"Is far too nice. I barely see a hole in it except the agreement of House Astaroth."

"Like I said, they will do anything to clear their names. That's their first priority, getting Diodora out from prison is not as important as their house as a whole. If making the statement of 'We have no idea what Diodora Astaroth was thinking, we do not have any connection with Chaos Brigade.' is the only way to pull their names from the list. They will jump at the chance Sona."

Sona regained her composure as her aura dropped.

"The Devil's Pride, exploit it Sona. In return Hakuryuukou will leave this town."

Issei continued his speech in a more serious manner.

"He knows you don't want to be involved in this matter if he just asks you like that. So he will give you a favor. Say, you and Rias have been considering about increasing the overall defense to protect this base if the Hakuryuukou decide to make his moves, we all know truce is just a piece of paper. And then there's the whole destined fight between Sekiryuutei and Hakuryuukou which will bring more destruction to wherever they're staying."

He knew she listening to him, this is Sona after all. She's a much more calculated person than Rias.

"So you protect Diodora's Peerage, and he leaves this town. Deal?"

"I will see what I can do."

"Thank you Sona. I'm sure you will not regret this decision."

"One last question, is that his idea-"

Her glare pierced through his body, to the very core of his being.

"Or yours?"

"How can it be mine Sona? I'm only a normal human right?"

Issei returned an innocent smile to the doubtful Sona.

"... Don't make Rias wait Issei."

Sona no longer held warmth in her heart for Issei. There was only suspicion left now.

But that did not matter to Issei.

Not at all.

"Yes."

* * *

"So today I would like to thank everyone for helping me every time I got myself into trouble."

Issei bowed to the members of the Occult Research Club.

"Thank you Kiba, for lending me your homework, thanks Akeno-senpai and Koneko-chan for visiting me in the hospital."

Issei said as he gave each of them a mont blanc, which he didn't get the chance to learn how to make one, so he poured all his savings into them.

"And finally, thank you Rias-senpai for taking care of me all the time."

She too was given a mont blanc, but this cake was the day-limited one. To get this Issei had to book it and pre-order a week earlier.

But it's worth it! If it's for her he would do anything, considering she didn't charge him once for hospital bill nor the absent days in school.

'Sorry for not baking apple pie Shirou-san.'

The Heiress of Gremory happily took the cake from him, then she hugged him lightly.

"Thank you for this! I never have a chance to taste this shop's day-limited dessert before."

She smelt so nice, Issei's hands unconsciously trying to reach for her hair, those luxurious red locks were so close to him right now.

But he held back, he knew this wasn't the time for that, he still had much to do before this.

"Right! Now Ise-kun, we too have prepared-"

Orange light flashed up in the room, Issei's eyes tracked down the source of light as it came from a teleportation magic circle. He knew this symbol, it belonged to one of the 72 Pillars.

A man appeared after the light died down.

"Good, at least you place magic to ensure the air in this room is clean from the filthy dirt that existed in any human building. Such a lovely way to show your care for your fiancee Rias."

His blond hair and loose attire made him look just like any rich playboy who only cared how many parties and how many chicks he would get today.

"I do not remember to invite you, nor recall that jumping into other's house is in any gentleman's manner."

The Peerage of Rias quickly stopped their smile as they stood behind their Master.

"Don't be so hard Rias, we are going to marry soon so your house-"

He treated Rias like she was merely a piece of jewelry. To be used and replaced as he saw fit.

"Is mine too."

Kiba stepped up before Rias, blocking her from the incoming playboy. However before he could dismiss the action of the Knight he glared at Issei in disgust.

"Who are you? Who has permitted you to even breathe in the presence of Raiser Phenex?"

He then waved a hand to dismiss Issei as if he was a poor peasant begging the noble Raiser for copper pieces.

"Get out of my sight. Know your place filthy human."

Issei could only smirk at that order of the playboy.

"I'm sorry, but really? I would hide myself in shame if I had a fiancee who couldn't even knock on the door."

"We share the same view Ise-kun. Truly a piece of my heart shrivels up and dies whenever he comes to see me in that impolite and uncouth manner."

"Thank you Rias-senpai."

"Enough of this!"

Raiser growled angrily at Rias and Issei's mockery, and with a flash of light 15 girls appeared behind him.

"For a human like you I have no need to even raise a single finger. Go my Servants, paint the wall with his innards."

"Who do you think you are the third son of House Phenex? You think that you can come into my territory without my acknowledge and order your Peerage to harm my guest?"

The aura around Rias thickened as she pointed to Raiser, meanwhile Akeno and Koneko came in front of Issei to shield him from the Peerage of the playboy whom seemed discontent at Rias' speech.

"You do not deserve to be my fiancee Phenex, return to your mother and learn to act like gentleman for the next hundred years. Maybe then I will allow you to come to my house in the presence of Lord and Lady Gremory."

"Stop being stubborn Rias, you know you can't change our marriage."

"How so? My parents will not let me marry a man who is not smarter than me. You however are so utterly incompetent will never be able to defeat me in a game of chess."

The tension in the room quickly rose when the Heiress of Gremory finished her spiel. Raiser dropped his act and bit his lips for a few seconds before snapping his fingers to tell his Peerage to stop harassing Issei.

"You will stop this foolishness once I win against you Rias."

"I'm always glad to see you admit your defeat Raiser."

A chess board appeared on the table in the middle of the room, the red set belonged to Rias while the orange one belonged to Raiser.

"And if you lose, you will no longer pester me with that marriage."

Issei chose the moment before they began the game to voice his opinion.

"Rias-senpai, I believe every game needs a judge, who will not favor anyone but keep the rules fair and square. Can you think of anyone fits that description?"

Raiser leveled a hateful glare at Issei again. It was not very effective. Rias on the other hand looked at Issei gleefully as she activated a communication circle to call for a suitable person for the job.

A minute later a maid came in Occult Research Club's room. After confirming with both party she checked the chess board, and finally she held the contract signed in hands.

"Then it is settled, I-Grayfia Lucifuge as the maid of House Gremory and the Queen of Demon Lord Lucifer, shall be the judge of this chess game. If Lady Rias wins the marriage between her and House Phenex will be nullified. If Sir Raiser wins the marriage between him and House Gremory will be executed tomorrow."

The silver hair maid looked at them again.

"We accept the terms."

"Very well, let's the game begins."

Issei smiled at Rias, he looked at her for a last time before slowly walking out of the room in silent.

He knew who Rias Gremory was, he had been playing chess with her for a year, there was no way she could lose against that playboy. Rias could play against Sona if she put all effort into it, so naturally she could not lose when her life was on the line.

His role was finished here, a judge would make sure Raiser had no chance to cheat, Rias would win her freedom by her own power and it is the greatest reward to someone like her.

Sona would cover him, but for now he would try to lay low a bit. Getting Balance Breaker first, then other things would come in.

Thus Hyoudou Issei left Kuou Academy.

* * *

 **AN: Thank you _joshiewoshie_ for helping me.**

 **: I recall that to heal Gae Bolg's curse you need a stronger/higher rank magic, then again those lore with RPG-like stats (Nasu rules) don't work quite well whenever other authors trying to write a crossover. I mean if Gae Bolg is that effective then Shirou should have just spammed them in every single fights, and it's boring, OOC for him to do that. Another thing comes to my mind is to dodge Gae Bolg you need LUK to defy Fate, which in other words is Plot Armor, and whenever Plot Armor gets involved too much the story becomes uninteresting.**

 **So if Gae Bolg appeared in this story Divine Dividing (in Juggernaut Drive and above) could halve the curse till the regeneration kicked in or healing magic worked again.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor High school DxD.**

 **Chapter 7**

Summer was coming, the cool breeze of spring giving way to the warm, humid air of Summer.

Shirou checked his schedule for part time jobs, yesterday the old man living alone in his apartment complex had asked Shirou to help him buy goods from the local supermarket. Naturally Shirou wouldn't deny his request.

He saw Issei running around the town in his sport wear, he looked quite focus on his workout. A glance on his watch told Shirou it was still early so he came close in to give Issei a greeting.

"Good morning Issei-san. Your routine training?"

Issei sped down to greet Shirou.

"Yeah Shirou-san."

The shirt Issei was wearing was covered in magic circles and sigils… none of which he recognized. They didn't look like anything that belonged to the basic spells. Spying Shirou's look of curiosity Issei started to explain.

"Oh this? Hakuryuukou made it for me, it increases the weight of my body 3 fold."

He wiped off the sweat pouring down his face.

"Just traditional endurance and strength training."

They sat on the bench in the park for a talk. A week ago Issei came to his apartment looking for Shirou but he wasn't home. Since then he hadn't come over again even once. It was a shame to stop his cooking lessons, but Shirou knew Issei had his own circumstances to deal with so he never pushed the issue.

"You seem to be okay Issei-san, Vali-san is not that brutal huh?"

"No… he is…" Issei took a moment to shiver and whisper sweet nothings to himself. "Hey, Shirou-san I'm quite interested in your magic, especially the field of swords you used that day. What is it?"

"Ah that, I don't know how to explain since I just do it. Though it's not something one can attain via normal method I think."

That was what Rin told him.

"The swords inside are copies I have seen during my life, none of them were the original ones."

In the end he was only a Faker.

"But it's cool! You said they're copies but I couldn't know if they're the real ones or not so have confidence in yourself Shirou-san. Besides, I believe any power that can help people is beautiful in its own way."

Issei held his left fist and pointed it toward Shirou.

"Even if this Sacred Gear inside me has brought nothing but tragedy upon the people around it. I will use it to make the world a better place, a better future. Power itself has no fault, it is a tool to be used according to the one who possess it, and through it I will make that world a reality."

Shirou felt joy, hearing those words from Issei. The young Sekiryuutei had chosen the path of Righteousness and maybe… maybe in the future he would become a superhero like Shirou? There was nothing more he could ask for, than to meet someone who shared his ideals.

"Then after I save the world, how girls with all size of breasts will flock to me in an endless drove!"

Shirou blinked. Shirou stared glassily at Issei. His brain had ceased operation to preserve the image of a heroic Issei who fought in the name of justice. Not in the name of his dreams for a harem of beautiful women with large breasts.

"-san, are you okay?"

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm fine."

Issei seemed a little apologetic when he changed the topic.

"Do you feel … uneasy when you lost against Hakuryuukou Shirou-san?"

"No I'm not. I don't think I care that much about that."

That's right. Emiya Shirou would be fine with anything, him losing or winning doesn't matter.

What matters is the people he can save with his powers, and none were killed on that day.

"I didn't expect an answer like that… but it's very much like you Shirou-san. Anyway Hakuryuukou is very strong, he has been training since childhood, and with his vast mana pool no wonder he could defeat you when he went all out."

Issei spoke like he was pitying Shirou. Honestly, he didn't need something like that but he continued to listen to Issei. Maybe he could see where he was really going with this.

"If you can interrupt his chant to activate Juggernaut Drive you should win though."

"But Vali-san was able to fly around in that mode, to disrupt him you need to pin him down first."

It reminded Shirou of that day. Vali did not stop him when he started his chant to enter Unlimited Blade Works, a shame rose in Shirou's heart as he recalled Vali had given him a chance to show his full power, yet Shirou immediately attacked Vali when it was his turn to bring out a chant.

"Wait Issei-san, you want to defeat Vali-san?"

It took Shirou a full minute to realize the reason why Issei being under Vali was because he lost to the fight. So Issei wanted to defeat Vali to earn his freedom?

"About that? I doubt it."

Shirou knew Vali didn't follow the traditional deathmatch between the Heavenly Dragons, but still being forced to work under one wasn't what he really approved. Issei should have his own freedom to do what he wanted.

"I don't think I can beat that guy with the me right now hence I'm training hard. While it's true that he doesn't treat me badly, I have to do so much training everyday it's ridiculous! But yet he still goes 'Muscles today, Magic tomorrow. Risen and Repeat.'~ It SUCKS! Man I haven't had time to touch my PSP ever the day I started to stay at that guy's place."

Issei moaned.

"Moreover it's a church, Asia-san is there so I can't… those magazines… never mind."

Shirou knew what he was trying to say but he was content pretend he didn't.

"Excuse me?"

They turned their heads towards the direction of the voice, a man in casual clothes. He was just a normal human, Shirou couldn't detect any magic from him so no need to be on guard too much.

"Someone told me to give you this."

Issei received the letter in the stranger. He flipped it around then asked the man.

"Do you know who asked you to to this?"

"No idea. I don't care about that."

The strange man walked away while humming, meanwhile Issei just stared at the letter. Shirou could tell he didn't want to open it.

"Shirou-san, there's something I want to ask you. But, it's a little sensitive… are you okay with that?"

Issei was serious, something already rare enough.

"Go on Issei-san."

There was nothing he could think of that he would be uncomfortable about so Shirou didn't see the need to deny Issei.

"What is a 'Hero'?"

A Hero? It wasn't that hard.

"A hero is someone who wants to save everyone and who has the power to do it. He will always remain vigilant and ready to help everyone as much as he can."

But why would Issei ask him? Did he know about his ideal?

"Is that your goal? What you are aiming for Shirou-san? I'm sorry, but I heard that you want to become a hero back when I visited your apartment a week ago."

"No need to apologize Issei-san. But yes, I, Emiya Shirou want to become a hero."

He would never feel shame in announcing his dream to the world.

"But what kind of hero you are Shirou-san?"

Shirou could feel Issei's tone turn into ice as he continued to speak.

"Are you the hero that will kill _Demons_ and _Monsters_?"

"Yes, if they bring disasters upon the world I will not hesitate to cut them down with my faked swords."

If it was necessary to kill one in order to save a hundred he would do so, even if the very thought sickened him.

"But I believe in saving everyone Issei-san. I believe that in every group, every of _people_ , every collection of individuals, there will be the good and the bad. Regardless of ethnicity, religion, or even your species. Gremory-san... she truly cared for you Issei-san, regardless of your status as the Sekiryutei, or even the fact that you were human, she cared. Besides, it's not as if the supernatural is to blame for every crime, every sin, every tragedy. Humanity has it's own share of monsters after all. "

Even before the Holy Grail War, Shirou had already come to terms with the fact that he would need to defeat or even kill armed terrorists, kidnappers or even hired killers. Most of which were mundane humans without supernatural powers save some special cases. As a hero Shirou would not distinguish between his race or other species, the only things he needed to know were 'If they were the bad guys.' and 'How to save many people as fast as he could.'

A hero will never favor anyone person or group above everyone else in the name of justice. A hero will bear the burden to save everyone.

Issei smiled after hearing that. Was his purpose to test Shirou? He had no idea but seeing him smiling heartfully like that he found no reason to question himself.

With a light tap on Shirou's shoulder Issei stood up.

"I am glad to hear that Shirou-san, I… I am so happy. Now I know I can trust you."

The letter was burned in Issei's hands.

"I'm sure you will receive one soon enough, no perhaps once the news is leaked he will personally come here to meet you."

He gave a thumbs up to Shirou before leaving.

"Keep your ideal till the very end Shirou-san, you might encounter many hardships on your road but the reward in the end will be always worth it!"

He was already doing that, and would continue to do so. Issei's words seemed unnecessary to Shirou... but at the very least he could appreciate it when someone didn't call him out on his hypocritical dreams. It felt nice, when someone merely respected them.

'I wonder what's the contents of the letter.'

Why did he burn it? Was the letter related to the 'hero'? Why did Issei say he too would receive one like that?

Shirou left for the supermarket with those unanswered questions in the back of his mind.

* * *

"You ready for the debut?"

"Even if I say 'no' you will just shove me in right?"

"Good to hear that. If you want a boost in your confidence then no worry, I'm sure a bunch of Fallen Angel females wouldn't mind sleeping with the infamous Sekiryuutei."

"Pardon me but I want to have a serious relationship. Just meeting with people I don't know and sleep with them seems wrong to me."

"Don't you regret then."

The White one pushed the door open to the headquarter of one of the Grigory's main bases. Today was the day Hyoudou Issei officially showed himself to the world as this generation's Sekiryuutei currently taken under the Hakuryuukou's wings. It sounded crazy but it happened with witness so he wouldn't deny it.

The warriors of the Fallen bowed down their heads to both him and the White one whenever they came by, after a few minutes they had arrived at the leaders meeting room.

"Welcome Sekiryuutei."

He could recognize the leader of the Grigori quickly enough, the night before he made sure to memorize all of the faces in the photo the White one gave him.

The one in the middle-Azazel, also known as the Governor General of the Grigori. He held the highest rank of the Fallen but wasn't really the leader type. A man who spent most of his time researching magic and technology.

On the left and right of Azazel were Shemhazai and Baraqiel, then starting from the left to right: Amaros, Sahariel, Penemue, Tamiel and Kokabiel.

"To think we have lived long enough to witness the Heavenly Dragons standing side by side without everything within a 30 KM radius on fire! How fortunate of us!"

Azazel began his speech joyfully!

"However I believe we were slacking in ensuring our orders had been made crystal clear to our subordinates. Please let me apologize for what Raynare did to you Sekiryuutei."

"Please don't worry about that Governor Azazel, Hakuryuukou here had saved me back there so I think we're even now."

"Ha Ha Ha as expected of your rival, always the fastest to appear in the middle of trouble!"

They began to introduce each core members of the Grigory to Issei, which he silently made a note of mentally..

"Good, now the time has come for me to go meet them Azazel. I would like to have the Heavenly Dragons to accompany me."

Kokabiel-the one in charge of the Assault department, spoke his request.

"For what purpose Kokabiel? We are going to negotiate with them on the matter of the Excalibur fragments, why should both the Heavenly Dragons go with you? Is that not a show of force?"

"Think of it from a different angle Shemhazai."

He then turned his head toward Issei.

"Obviously, Heaven would not send their low ranking members to meet with me, they may consider it a chance to eliminate one of our core leaders even if it means abandoning their objective. However, if the Heavenly Dragons are with me would they not rethink any plans they may have? Would they not take care to tread lightly?"

His speech had warped the room into a stage, and he was the lead actor.

"In the end, the Heavenly Dragons will be the ones to eliminate the possibility that they would even _consider_ the option of attacking. The threat of the Heavenly Dragons will strike into their hearts. Is this not how law is enforced and order established? When the sword strikes down their champions and lays low their heroes, will they not fear? _Will they not obey?_ "

What an utterly tyrannical point of view.

"This is how peace is achieved."

Issei knew this was nothing but trouble, the way he spoke, the way he used him and the White one as a threat to halt the 'other party' from even considering any forceful options. Kokabiel was not someone he could underestimate nor even let his guard down around.

"Enough of this discussion my comrades. The Heavenly Dragons, I would be glad to have you come with me on the road to achieve peace. Let us proceed to the destination."

With that said Issei bowed his head to the rest of the core members of the Grigori before following Kokabiel to the special teleportation room.

"Truly magnificent Sekiryuutei, at first when Azazel introduced Hakuryuukou to me I cried three days and three nights. Never in my life I had such hope for the stars to send him to our organization."

Kokabiel looked at Issei with the eyes of admiration, the him of now a far cry from the him in the leader's room.

"And later he found you! Not only did you two not slaughter each other like in the days past but you have decided to join us. Truly the stars of the sky have blessed me with you two."

Issei was starting to grow more and more uncomfortable with this antic of Kokabiel.

"Before we arrive I shall tell you what should you do, since the time is tight I am sorry I cannot give you a more detailed schedule beforehand."

The guard at the station saluted to Kokabiel.

"We have finished the teleportation circle Lord Kokabiel! The security has been checked thrice! The anti-tracking system has been checked thrice! The identities of each individuals related to this room have been checked thrice! All clear my Lord!"

"You have done well my warriors! Now I believe you have other duties to finish."

"Yes my Lord!"

He had such sway over his underlings?

"Now before I activate the teleportation, Sekiryuutei, all you have to do is keep a cool composure during the negotiation. Leave the talking to me, if they still decide to use violence fight for yourself Sekiryuutei, Hakuryuukou alone can protect me well enough."

"Okay Sir."

"I believe Hakuryuukou had informed you about the Excalibur fragments yes?"

The Excalibur fragment, was the name they gave to the 7 broken shards of the legendary holy sword Excalibur. They said that after the death of King Arthur the sword had shattered into 7 shards with different powers. The blacksmiths belonged to the church and House Pendragon had reforged them into 7 swords.

Years come and gone the 7 Excalibur swords were lost from place to place, and now the Grigory had somehow obtained the Rapid, Nightmare and Transparency fragments.

"Yes Sir."

"Excellent."

Behind Kokabiel's back the White one did nothing but kept his face cold. Issei could feel his annoyance at Kokabiel's theatrics.

Though what would happen in the negotiation was beyond his ability to predict.

The teleportation brought them to a rural area, the mist thick with the dark green lines of trees lining the horizon. All in all, the environment gave out a very murky vibe. The meeting place was the small house not far from the forest, perhaps it was the only house on this hill?

Following Vali's example Issei moved in front of Kokabiel to act like his vanguard, even though he was not confident that he could defeat Kokabiel with the current him.

Inside the house there were three figures, all of them were covered in white robes, on their neck Issei could detect the silver holy cross… layered with enchantments to further amplify their effects.

The one to the left flinched when he came in, was that someone he knew? Or they didn't expect to see both Heavenly Dragons to be here at the same time just as Kokabiel planned?

"Greeting to the followers of YHVH, I am Kokabiel and I have come here today in order to show the goodwill of Grigori."

"Greeting to you too Lord Kokabiel, my name is Griselda Quarta. Today I am the representative of the Vatican to come here to meet you."

The holy woman was beautiful, her face alone had brightened up the room in light.

"I believe it is right for me to introduce my accompany today. They are Shidou Irina and Xenovia, both are blessed with the ability to wield holy swords."

Oh.

They revealed themselves as Griselda said.

Oh. Now Issei had understood why she had a flinch earlier.

Shirou Irina… He didn't expect to reunite with her like this. Nonetheless he kept his cool as he nodded a little to her. In return she made a small gesture, the one that they had made when they played with each other oh so long ago...

She still remembered it. It meant 'Nice to see you Ise-kun.'

He could only nod in embarrassment as he didn't quite remember all the gestures they made back there.

"I, White Dragon Emperor."

Their faces immediately became stern, but Xenovia was already being stoic in the first place so her face hardly changed.

"I am this generation Red Dragon Emperor, nice to meet you."

Compare to the rude Vali, Issei was on the safer end of polite, but in truth it was merely to hide his unease. However seeing their reactions, the Grigori really did well to hide the face of Hakuryuukou.

Upon hearing that, Griselda seemed a bit shaken, but she quickly regained her calmness. She knew she had to stay strong or Kokabiel would take advantage in the negotiation.

"Now that we have introduced ourselves, let us process to the matter of Excalibur fragments."

Three shards appeared on the table in the middle of the room. The light on them was dead as a layer of seal covered them.

"Those are what we confiscated from the scum Valper Galilel, a heartless bastard who did not even have the decency to be ashamed as he conducted inhuman experiments for the sake of creating artificial holy swords users under the name of "Project Holy Sword". When he came to seek our protection I was too naive to see through his facade, many lives were lost but in the end we managed to make him pay for the crimes he had committed."

"I see, these three fragments were stolen from the church by him."

"Yes, however in his death he had been telling us the church had been assisting him in pushing his project into reality. Is this true?"

"As far as I know we have never permitted such a disgusting project. If he was getting help from the church, then it looks like we have more corrupted members from our side. The bishops would not agree to increase our warriors by going back on the very teachings of our God."

Griselda closed her eyes for a bit before continued her words.

"Shidou Irina here was trained and basked in the holy aura when she was a child, her father is a high ranking member of the exorcists so over the time she manages to wield holy sword by herself. Xenovia on the other hand was born with the blessing of god so naturally none of the holy swords reject her."

"I see, very well. Now the truth has been revealed I want to return these Excalibur fragments to the Vatican, in return we would like to propose an alliance between Heaven and the Grigori. We have no wish to continue this state of perpetual small scale conflict.

Kokabiel now had entered his 'charisma mode'.

"The Great War has put a heavy toll on us, all of us. But century after century we have never stopped glaring from our heated positions. So why not stop all of this useless conflict now? If the Heaven and the Grigori join force we can force the Devils to get back to their lair from the face of the Earth."

However what he received was a short time of silent, even to Issei this plan felt too big, too grand. The Grigori wished to ally with the Heaven? This could get complicated, but the three Excalibur fragments… Were they worth it? To be honest allying with the Grigori didn't seem too bad if Issei were to put himself in their shoes.

But then if they banded together wouldn't Rias and Sona get more trouble on their hands? What if they were forced to return to the Underworld? Issei didn't want that, he still wanted to meet them and talked to them if he had a chance. However if the war erupted again it would be better for them to stay in the Underworld.

"Do not be worry too much, I understand your position and like I said this is the good will of the Grigori. Take these three fragments back to the Vatican and inform them of my proposal. For the time being all of our warriors will be withdrawn to our main bases."

"Your words will be repeated as they are Lord Kokabiel, thank you for your kindness."

The negotiation had come to an end. For Kokabiel it was a success, Heaven would consider joining forces with the Grigori. Issei didn't know how to react. He met the eyes of Irina when she came to the door, those eyes of her telling him she had so much to talk about, so much to share, yet they were in no position to do so.

She was an exorcist. He was the infamous Sekiryuutei.

But Issei believed they would meet again soon. In fact he would make sure for that happened.

"Now Sekiryuutei, our objective is completed. Let us return to the headquarter, I shall prepare several training facilities if you wish."

"Yes, thank you for your care Sir."

He was on the verge of getting Balance Breaker so this should be on his priority to-do-list.

Once Kokabiel was out of sight the White one had a small talk with him.

"The mist in that forest, don't you think it's too convenient?"

"You mean they have ambush somewhere?"

"How the hell the Vatican let just three exorcists to negotiate on the matter of that holy sword? In fact I got a feeling he was there too."

"By 'him' you can only mean the Second one."

The strongest exorcist from the church who could command the weather as he pleased.

"But Kokabiel didn't do anything stupid so they played nice with us. Say, what do you think about Kokabiel?"

"He said Valper Galilel paid for his crimes right? But who knows if Kokabiel didn't get anything out of his research..."

The White one finished the talk in a sneer.

"Nor were the fragments he gave them the real ones."

The more Issei thought about it, the more he understood the danger that lingered about him like a cloud of death.

'What game is Kokabiel trying to play? Surely he is not someone who uses nice words to flatter me just because I am the Sekiryuutei. I need to figure out his motive as soon as possible.'

He had no other choice but to go along with it. If Kokabiel wanted to use him, he would let him.

For now.

* * *

 **AN: Thank you joshiewoshie for helping me.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night nor High school DxD.**

 **Chapter 8**

Today, Shirou felt, was going to be a day just like any other. Well, he was wrong.

"Greetings everyone."

It was just before dinner time, usually an hour or half before the sky turned dark when Shirou would have begun his preparations. Rin had wanted to get some fresh air after some long, tedious research on decoding a seal on an ancient artifact so she joined him in the kitchen. They were in the middle of a small chat when someone knocked on the door. Considerate knight that she was, Saber opened the door to greet their visitors.

"So I heard you used Excalibur against Vali."

Never did Shirou think he would meet the gentleman so soon. Shirou left his works for a second to go greet the right hand of Vali. Was Fay coming with her brother? Should he change the dinner into the western one to humble their guests? Or just went along with Japanese cuisine? He still had a little bit of time to switch his dishes. But what stopped him from saying hello wasn't the appearance of Arthur but rather-

"E-Excalibur!?"

Even in it's a scabbard, could Shirou grasp its true nature.

The sword in Arthur's hand was none other than the famous holy sword and through its memories could Shirou finally discern the true identities of they who helped them before.

"My apologies for concealing our identities, it was Vali's idea, should the walls have ears. My name, is Arthur Pendragon, my sister is Le Fay Pendragon and we are the descendants of the original King Arthur in legend." The gentleman slightly bowed to them.

Among the trio Saber was the one to stop her breath as Arthur finished his greeting. It didn't surprise Shirou if she acted like that.

Shirou should have anticipated that even heroes and their descendants were more than ink on paper, especially when almost all the myth in the library of humanity were real. The Welsh Dragon from Arthurian Legend, the Devils and Fallen Angels from the Christian Bible and the Youkai from Asian folk tales just to name a few.

Arthur raised his sword directly parallel to Saber's eyes, like a knight of old days long past.

"The sword in your hands, I'm very interested in it. Would I have the honor of a duel between knights oh swordsmaiden?"

Saber snapped out of her stupor, her slender fingers grasping her sword with a grip of steel. Her power flares, bathing the room in a golden light. Anyone, no matter how magically incapable, would have been able to look upon that light. Look upon it… _and tremble._

"I accept."

The King of Knights would never decline another swordsman a duel. Her pride would not allow it.

No words would suffice for Shirou to stop their duel. Not that it was even his place, his right to do so.

The memory of that day on that snowy mountain played and replayed in Shirou's mind as they walked toward the sparring area.

"Hey Rin, are we… are we doing the right thing?"

Unlike the uneasy Shirou, the Master of Saber was rather nonplussed about the whole affair.

"Do what? We aren't doing anything."

The forest behind the church would serve as their field of battle, obviously Shirou asked Asia for permission. The nun however, seemed far more concerned about potential injuries, or fatalities.

"I mean Saber is-"

"Shirou, do you remember what she said to you before?"

Shirou indeed remembered, her words serving as a prompt.

"Yeah... Her ideal of Kingship."

Archer's words before the sudden appearance of the King of Heroes.

"Then all we can do is watch her. Though, I never thought the Arthur we met would be the descendant of King Arthur in this world. Was this what Vali-san meant the last time?"

The original King Altria fighting against the descendant of King Arthur, never in his wildest fantasies would Shirou dream of such a match up. It was almost like fate, a destined encounter.

An encounter he would bear witness to. Shirou let his question of why Arthur came for a challenge slide away from his attention as both knights drew their swords.

Unlike Saber's invisible blade, the one Arthur used was a slim longsword. Unlike the Excalibur Shirou knew, this world's version of Excalibur sent shivers running down his spine.

The power to rule over everything. A power befitting a king.

In a contest of raw strength Arthur could not hope to match Saber, but she need only let her guard down once for her opponent to seize victory. From the memories of the sword, Shirou knew that unless Saber were to overwhelm him, her defeat was certain.

As long as Arthur kept his cool Saber would never win against him and his Excalibur, even if that sword only had a seventh of its full power. That alone made Shirou realize how strong Excalibur in this world if they forged into a single sword again.

'Still the Excalibur of Saber is beyond comprehension.'

"Before we start, both of us have the right to know their opponent's name. You have announced your real name, Arthur Pendragon so as such there is no reason for me to keep mine from you."

Silver armor materialized on the petite figure of Saber, she had no crown yet no one could deny who she was once she told them her name. Simply because her bravery and beauty were enough to prove them the truth.

"I am the King of Knights, my kingdom of Camelot, my people call me the Once and Future King. Altria Pendragon is my true name."

"Ho? Interesting."

As expected from the swordsman of Vali's band, Arthur didn't show any surprise emotion. The only thing Shirou could detect from him was a sense of calm that burned. Burned like a torch carrying humanity through the age of darkness. Was this the pride he passed down from the original King Arthur of this world?

"You are not my ancestor. My family has kept his body untouched from the day his own knights betrayed him. In fact King Arthur is a man, therefore you cannot be him."

The two knights began to circle each others, eyes scouring their opponent for just a single opening.

Like a pair of young lions determining who would win the best hunting ground, each grasped for a chance to bite at their enemy's neck in the bloody brawl.

"Your invisible sword, it is not the Excalibur I know, yet your eyes, your voice, your manner. One does not simply hold so much charisma and the aura of the king just by coating oneself in an armor and a sword. So what Vali told me must be the truth. You are from a different world, an alternate dimension."

They had been found out!?

Unfazed, Saber shifted her weight into a stance.

"Well said Arthur, however did you not come here for a duel? Where is your armor? Are you so prideful to consider it needless even if my identity has been revealed to you?"

"Every knight has his own tastes in the art of combat, this is the attire I choose. By no means am I underestimating the wise one who assembled the Knights of the Round."

His last words signaled the end of the observation. They clashed, swords grinding against each other. They did not stay static in one spot, they maneuvered, and out-maneuvered. And soon the very ground was torn apart by the sheer force of the clash of steel.

Saber had no mercy as she stabbed, cut, slashed, swung. She had no intention of giving Arthur room to breathe. More complex strikes were used as she encircled him into a spot, but even then he blocked or parried with near-perfection.

 _Fast._

Was the only word Shirou could use to describe this dance of steel.

Unlike the unbelievable speed Issei and Vali displayed during their destined fight, Arthur and Saber's clash could be followed, but this level of speed didn't belong to normal fighter like him.

If he didn't know Arthur beforehand he would have assumed Arthur had to be more than human. To Shirou this was a pseudo battle of Servants, beings that had far exceeded humanity. Facing the brutal assault of Saber yet Arthur could go on and on, his counter was a thunderstorm against the hurricane of Saber.

Not a single movement was wasted in their beautiful swordplay.

The song of swords picked up in tempo, the intro had long ended and chorus had begun. The sword in Arthur's hand a blur, just like Saber, if it weren't from the sparks of steel clashing against steel, the nature of their conflict would be indiscernible.

To Shirou, the clash of metal was like a melody. A melody resounding in the hearts of all true knights past, present and future,

A cut appeared on Arthur's left hand, drawing a red line on his shirt but his speed never dropped once. Saber's armor too shrugged off blows.

Saber's fierce attacks had more force, reducing her speed and even concentration, relying upon her armor to shrug off otherwise lethal blows. On the other hand Arthur wore a business suit, he favored speed and multiple hits in a single attack but the chance of him getting wounded was far higher.

With Prana Burst the weight of the armor wouldn't slow Saber down but Arthur was fast, faster than even Lancer, his swordsmanship already on the level of Servants.

Vali had certainly picked the best of the best to be his right hand.

Where the trees of the forest would impede lesser combatants, to these two transcendent legends, they were but background noise.

Rows of trees with the misfortune of being in their way were destroyed, the wood sliced into ribbons without a single pause. The knights soon returned to the grassy field to continue their metallic melody.

Not once did they hit their opponents' back. Not once was a low blow dealt.

The song of swords began its final verse, the knights locked in stalemate. The winner indeterminable.

There were no feints in their battle, right from the start both combatants had agreed in silent that they would only use pure skills to compete. To them this was a duel of the skilled honed from time to time, it was not a battle where only one survived. Such was the code of knights honored till the end of time.

From the beginning of the duel Shirou had been using Reinforcement on his eyes, allowed him to follow them with better dynamic vision. Right now he could tell nobody was dominating the other one. At this point what they did would be a competition of attrition.

The duel of the knights was a battle between 'Power' and 'Precision'. The very style each combatant chose ground against each other. Even with UBW, Shirou couldn't see the outcome, such was their skills that each style's strong points covered for their weaknesses.

The only factor that would determine the victor would be their ultimate move.

Who would win? The powerhouse street sweeper or the silenced pistol?

It was time for the final verdict, such was the silent signal exchanged between both sides.

"Your skills are impressive Arthur, to think you have kept up with me thus far."

"It is my pleasure to have a chance of fighting against one such as you Altria."

They exchanged a small smile with that, the wind unraveled to reveal the true masterpiece beneath.

"Arthur! I do not wish to see this fight ends with our stamina drained and victor undecided! So I shall unleash my strongest blow upon thee, descendant of King Arthur!"

"As a fellow knight I cannot hold back from the declaration of my opponent! It is the greatest of honors to face your true power in my life! Prepared yourself swordsmaiden of Excalibur! For this knight will never retreat like a coward when his opponent has shown her trump card!"

The golden pillar of light once again woke up from slumbering to paint this world with its color. Saber had raised her hands to slash it down, aiming at the knight's head.

Arthur rushed her, sword in hand shining. He did not retreat even in the face of the pillar of light that could turn a mountain into dust with a single touch.

He had kept his word to the very end. His sword responded to his will as it glowed.

There was a small quake, the ground underneath supporting Saber cracked and a hole appeared took away her stability. In that single second of distraction, Arthur had brought his sword close to her neck.

*clank*

Shirou let out a breath of relief as Saber was quick enough to block Arthur' sword by using the hilt of her own Excalibur.

"That move, you stopped right before my neck?"

"Yes, I have no wish to harm a great opponent such as you. The sound was just you blocking too fast and your hilt clashed against my blade."

Their swords disappeared after that last move.

"So the result of our duel…"

"A draw. A single second of contact with that ray would have killed me. As such, it is a draw."

He placed his hand on his heart and bowed to Saber.

"In the future, let us duel once more to see who is stronger, I'm expecting great duels from you Altria."

"Wait Arthur, your sword... It is Excalibur?"

"You can say that, but truth is that it is just one of the seven fragments of the original Excalibur."

"It doesn't change the fact that it is a part of original Excalibur right?"

"Yes, if you insist."

"My sword… is not with me. The sword I used to fight you is but a replica of the Excalibur my hands once held."

She was not the King Altria, what she got was just the soul of King Altria and a body of a Servant. The sword inside her hands was not the original Excalibur but a Noble Phantasm made by the Grail.

"Does it matter if it is a replica or not?" The gentleman replied her.

"As long as it stays with you, as long as it protects you and defeats your enemies, the name of the sword is not important, the original of the sword is not important."

Arthur pointed at his heart.

"What is important is how you cherish it and treat it like your partner."

"You heard that Shirou? Don't throw away your swords like cheap copies." Rin ribbed at Shirou, verbally and literally.

"S-Stop it Rin."

How did she still manage to snark after Arthur's speech? Then again... it's not like he could retort to her in any way.

"I see, you understand that the sword is not a tool even if it is a mere shadow of the original. But what about Caliburn? If you are the descendant of him have you searched for it? The Sword in the Stone."

"It has always been by my side, my family has protected this sword for centuries."

He drew another sword, one much bigger than the Excalibur he used in their duel. He was hiding it in a pocket dimension, Shirou recalled his lessons from Rin. That spell is very useful in many situations.

"Collbrande, also known as Caliburn. I believe you too must have one. If you can, next time please bring out that one, I can't wait to test my skills against you again."

"About Caliburn… I-"

"Yes yes next time we will prepare Caliburn for Saber."

Upon hearing Rin declared that to Arthur Shirou couldn't help but open his mouth wide, which she gestured him to shut up.

Wait, if she had been researching magic then perhaps this genius female magician could really replicate Saber's Caliburn? Shirou couldn't wait to see Rin forging a sword for Saber.

"Well then, if there is nothing else I believe it's time for me to leave."

"Wait Arthur. Your ancestor, what do you think about him?"

'Saber...'

What would Arthur tell her? Was it not the answer she had been seeking?

 _Sacrificing a village to protect the rest._

The method was wrong. The one who did this could not be none than a ruthless tyrant.

Yet it was also the best way to save others.

 _Killing one to save a hundred._

Shirou felt nauseous just thinking about it, but he couldn't deny one day he too might be placed into that situation.

"King Arthur is a great man, that's all I think about him."

"But what about the way he treated others? What about the people he had abandoned for the sake of his ideal country? Did King Arthur actually do what a righteous king should do?"

There was a moment of silence. Arthur stabbed his Collbrande into the ground, then he touched his glasses for a second. That had to be his habit when he had to think about something.

"I'm not going to ask you is that was what you really felt when you ruled your country, neither am I going to judge you. It is simple, that time is another time, this time is another time. The herd may complain, they may think that their King, their saviour, was a god. And that a god can do no wrong, that a god can do everything. When their King did not, could not meet their expectations they showed their true colors."

"No! They… They-"

"It is the truth Altria. Or have you not slain your own 'loyal' knights?"

There was nothing Saber could say.

"However I do not think the King or the people betrayed him were wrong. For in the end even if the King was more than human, one cannot deny he lived as a human, thus his soul is human. If he had chosen his path then I am in no position to judge him. After all I am not him so I do not know his rationale. Just as I will not judge the people who betrayed him for their own goals. It does not matter to me, what matters is the legend King Arthur had engraved into the history, and I will not shame him."

"So your answer is-"

"Yes, King Arthur had the freedom to live for his life, it is not the 'I must do this because I am the King.' but 'I am doing this because I want it.' Take it if you want, but always remember you have your own freedom, you have the power to shape your life. To make the choice or to hide them from your sight is up to you."

"Then what about you? Are you… Your family, why did they give you the name of your ancestor?"

"The reason could be because I was chosen by Collbrande, I don't care much about what they name me though, what's important to me is my loved ones."

"... Just your loved ones?"

"Yes."

"I see…"

"If there's nothing else then it's time for me to go. Farewell Altria Pendragon."

Arthur cut the space with his Caliburn and stepped into the tear in space and time, leaving the trio to return to a dumbfounded Asia full prepared to heal Arthur.

Shirou wondered what would the brother of Le Fay tell Vali after today.

* * *

"The reason why I sought the Holy Grail was to stop myself from ever pulling the sword from the stone."

Dinner that evening was heavier than usual, none of them could be cheerful with Saber telling them her story.

"I believe I have failed my country and people as a king but what Arthur said… Shirou, is he right?"

"I don't know."

Arthur only cared about his beloved ones.

"Arthur and you are two different people."

Who would Arthur choose if an accident happened? All of the bystanders or just his sister?

"But Saber, Arthur said everyone has the right to choose what they want so, on that day did you draw the sword because you wanted to?"

Shirou knew Arthur wasn't the hero figure he strove to become.

"Yes, I wanted to draw it by myself but when I became the king I-"

But that did not mean he could not learn from the valiant knight.

"Then don't regret, don't turn back on the path you have chosen Saber."

He had met his ideal-self. He had seen the end of his ideal-self.

"I have never regretted my ideal, even if it is borrowed, even if it is impossible. So you too Saber, don't regret your choices, don't throw away what you had done for your country, for your people."

Someone as beautiful as her, Shirou never wanted to see her denying herself, denying her own ideal.

"Even if I was a terrible king to the ones I had sacrificed for the sake of the country?"

She looked deep into his eyes, not that it was necessary. Shirou had forbidden himself from telling a sweet lie to the girl before him.

"Even if I wished for my people to be happy yet I still continued to trample on them for the sake of my ideal?"

He held her hand, the hand of the knight who had been protecting him and Rin. The soft hand of a girl who was confused at the direction in her life.

"No, because that was the best choice you could come up, if you didn't pick that road more innocent people would be involved in the chaos of war. I know I'm not in any position to say but in my heart I believe you had done a great service to your country Saber."

The King of Knights who had fought through 12 impossible battles.

"So, please keep it with you Saber, don't forget the people you had saved. Be proud of yourself Saber, what you did wasn't for naught."

Her blue dress was soaked in her tears.

The strongest woman Shirou knew was seeking comfort in his arms.

 _'You have the freedom to live your life.'_

She-Altria Pendragon, had chosen to draw the sword to save her country. Therefore she should not regret on the dream she had pursued.

He caressed the golden hair of the small figure in his arms.

"I love you Saber."

He knew he sounded like a hypocrite when he said that, but this was the feeling he couldn't keep inside his heart forever.

"Call me Altria Shirou, my name is Altria Pendragon."

Right, he should call her by that name from now on.

They kissed afterward, and that night they shared a same dream. A young girl stood on the a grassy field, to her left knights were participating in a jousting tournament, to her right was a sword stabbed deep into a stubborn large stone...

An old man told her a future she would or would not want, yet the young girl steeled her heart...

 _Stand proud, King of Knights._

* * *

 **AN: Sorry for being late, first I would like to thank joshiewoshie for helping me. Yeah I admit I suck at writing fight and romance scenes.**


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